Europe Changes Mind of Country Promotion of Meat and Food

The European Commission has set out plans to allow again country of origin to be used as a marketing tool for meat and agricultural food products.

The move laid out in a Commission working document is a U-turn on the current policy which barred the practice which was seen as breaking the European rules over competition.

Under the current policy marketing of products has been supported by the European Commission through the Common Agricultural Policy through matched funding for promotional campaigns, but it has been strictly forbidden for the country of origin or private brands to be part of the marketing and advertising.

Campaigns have to be generic and can discuss the method of production.

“The European Commission supports generic promotion programmes under the information and promotion policy for agricultural products and their method of production. It excludes actions based on commercial brands and those that encourage the consumption of a product because of its specific origin,” the Commission says.

At present the annual budget provided by the European Commission for agricultural product promotion is €50 million.

However, now the European Commission has recognised that the whole of the EU is facing strong global competition in the agricultural product sector.

In a Commission Staff Working Document putting forward proposals to the European Parliament and the European Council for new regulation on promotional measures, the European Commission has specified the need to use the Common Agricultural Policy to develop a more targeted approach to the promotion of agricultural products.

The document outlines three alternatives to the existing policy. In which it includes the ability of countries to promote products referring to the origin of the product and also to private brands as part of illustrating a generic message.

“These arise from distinctive features that emerged from the public debate and the positions taken by various stakeholders: the targeted market(s); the existence or not of a European strategy for promotion; and rules regarding the visibility of private brands and the mention of product origins,” the Commission says.

The new proposals are likely to be welcomed by the European m eat sector.

Erik Kam from the Danish Agriculture & Food Council said: “Although the measures still have to be formally ratified, we're very positive to the general principles of the new approach.

“If the principles are translated into legislation, it will release more EU resources for promotion of agricultural products, with a particular emphasis on promotion in countries outside the EU.

“They also propose a more flexible, simpler and less bureaucratic system towards securing support and could really help develop the sales of EU meat sales in key Third Country markets.”