In accordance with Council Regulations (EC) No 2826/20001 and (EC) No 2702/19992, the Community may implement information and promotional measures on the internal market and on third country markets for certain agricultural products. The results so far have been very encouraging.

Taking account of experience gained, the prospects for market development both within and outside the Community and the new international trade situation, it is appropriate to develop an overall, coherent information and promotion policy for agricultural products and their method of production as well as for food products based on agricultural products, on the internal market and on third country markets, without encouraging the consumption of any product on grounds of its specific origins.

In the interests of clarity, Regulations (EC) No 2702/1999 and (EC) No 2826/2000 should therefore be repealed and replaced by a single regulation, whilst maintaining the specific features of measures according to the market in which they are implemented.

Such a policy usefully supplements and reinforces the schemes run by Member States by boosting product image in the eyes of consumers in the Community and in third countries, in particular as regards the quality, nutritional value and safety of foodstuffs and the methods of production. Such action, by helping to open up new markets in third countries, is also likely to have a multiplier effect on national and private initiatives.

Criteria should be set for selecting the products and sectors concerned, and the themes and markets to be covered by the Community programmes.

It should be possible for the information and promotion measures for agricultural products in third countries to cover both products qualifying for export refunds and products not qualifying for them.

The measures should be implemented within the framework of information and promotion programmes. To ensure the consistency and effectiveness of programmes to be carried out on the internal market, guidelines for each product or sector concerned, setting out the essential elements of the Community programmes concerned, should be defined.

Given the technical nature of the tasks to be performed, the Commission should be able to be assisted by a committee of communication experts or to have recourse to technical assistants.

Financing rules should be set. As a general rule, so that proposing organisations and interested Member States assume their responsibilities, the Community should meet only part of the cost of measures. However, in exceptional cases it may be more suitable not to require any financial contribution from the Member State concerned. In the case of information on some Community schemes regarding product origin, organic production and labelling as well as on the graphic symbols laid down by agricultural legislation, in particular for extremely remote regions, financing shared between the Community and Member States may be justified by the need to provide appropriate information to the public on these relatively recent schemes.

To ensure the greatest cost-effectiveness of the measures selected, the implementation of measures should be entrusted, through appropriate procedures, to bodies with the necessary structure and expertise.

In view of the experience gained and the results achieved by the International Olive Oil Council in its promotional activities, provision should, however, be made for the Community to continue delegating to it measures falling within its sphere of responsibility. It should also be possible for the Community to seek the assistance of similar international organisations for other products.

In order to verify the proper implementation of the programmes and the impact of measures, programme implementation should be carefully monitored by Member States and the results assessed by an independent body.

Expenditure on the financing of measures under this Regulation should be classed in accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 of 21 June 2005 on the financing of the common agricultural policy3.

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 Commission4,