THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 37 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission(1),
Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament(2),
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee(3),
Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions,
Whereas:
(1) Under the sectoral provisions in force, the Community can carry out promotional work on the internal market for a number of agricultural products.
(2) Given the outlook for the markets and the experience acquired, and in order to provide full information to consumers, a comprehensive and consistent information and promotion policy should be followed, on the internal market, for agricultural products and their method of production, and in a subsidiary way for food products, on the same lines as provided for in regard to third countries but with no encouragement to consumption of any product by reason of its specific origins.
(3) Such a policy will usefully supplement and reinforce the schemes run by Member States by boosting product image in Community consumers' eyes, in particular as regards the quality, nutritional value and safety of foodstuffs and the methods of production.
(4) Criteria should be set for selecting products and sectors concerned and the themes of the Community campaign.
(5) To ensure the consistency and effectiveness of programmes, the general approach regarding the essential elements of these should be defined for each product or sector by means of guidelines.
(6) Given the technical nature of the tasks to be performed, the Commission should be able to have recourse to a committee of communication experts or to technical assistants.
(7) Financing rules must be set: as a general rule, so that proposing organisations and Member States assume their responsibilities, the Community should meet only part of the cost of actions. However, in exceptional cases it may be more suitable not to require any financial contribution from the relevant Member States. In the case of information on some Community schemes regarding product origin, organic production, relevant logo and labelling as well as on the graphic symbols laid down in the said legislation, in particular for extremely remote regions, financing shared between the Community and Member States may be justified by the need to provide information to the public on these relatively recent schemes.
(8) To ensure the greatest cost-effectiveness, the implementation of actions should be entrusted, through appropriate procedures, to bodies with the necessary structure and expertise.
(9) In order to verify the proper implementation of the programmes and their impact, programme execution should be carefully monitored by Member States and the impact of actions assessed by an independent body.
(10) The measures necessary for the implementation of this Regulation should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission(4).
(11) Expenditure on the financing of actions and European technical assistance should be classed as intervention expenditure under Article 1(2)(e) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1258/1999 of 17 May 1999 on the financing of the common agricultural policy(5).
(12) The promotional measures contained in the sectoral regulatory provisions differ in their rules of execution and have been frequently amended. As a result they are difficult to apply. They should be standardised, simplified and incorporated in a single text. Accordingly, the sectoral provisions and rules regarding promotion should be repealed.
(13) Measures should be laid down for transition between the sectoral provisions and rules and the new arrangements provided for in this Regulation,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Opinion delivered on 15 December 2000 (not yet published in the Official Journal).
Opinion delivered on 15 December 2000 (not yet published in the Official Journal).