Under consultation procedure, the European Parliament adopted the legislative resolution by Giulio Fantuzzi (PSE,IT), which approves the Commission proposal for a Council regulation on measures to promote and provide information on agricultural products in third countries, subject to amendments, notably in the following areas:
- adding that this policy can help to promote the image of Community products on international markets as regards production methods;
- proposing that the proposer organisations should be made jointly responsible for the implementation of the programmes;
- proposing that the proposer organisations may also include sales promotion bodies in the Member States, provided that, in terms of their internal structure, they represent the companies in the various sectors;
- extending monitoring of the proper conduct of the programmes and the impact of the measures to include monitoring by the proposer organisations;
- providing that the Community may partly or wholly fund measures in third countries that promote or provide information on processed foodstuffs (as well as agricultural products);
- extending the list of aspects of Community products, whose advantages should be highlighted, to include organic farming;
- providing that promotion measures shall not be directed solely at final consumers but also at the retail trade and producers of finished goods;
- changing the wording with regard to products eligible for measures under the programme;
- requiring the Commission to draw up a list of eligible products and markets of countries where there is significant actual or potential demand every three (rather than two) years;
- providing that any amendment of this list in the interim be undertaken following consultation of the European Parliament;
- in relation to measures in the areas of information campaigns on the Community system of PDOs/PGIs, TSGs and organic farming, market studies and high level Community visits, making it a requirement (rather than an option) for the Commission to consult the Standing Group on the Promotion of Agricultural Products of the Advisory Committee on Agricultural Product Health and Safety before drawing up the list, and also before approving programmes under the proposed regulation;
- in determining measures for sectors other than olive oil and table olives allowing the Community to seek help from European (rather than international) organisations offering similar guarantees as the International Olive Oil Council (IOOC) and providing that such organisations shall include members from at least two Member States;
- in carrying out measures in relation to public relations, participation in internationally important events and information campaigns on the Community system of wines and spirit drinks under the programme, requiring the trade or inter-trade bodies representing the sector(s) concerned to draw up promotion and information programmes lasting between 3 and 5 years (rather than no longer than 3 years);
- further requiring that in so doing, these bodies shall designate the body responsible for implementing the planned measures, giving reasons for their choice and an assessment ofthe candidates' operational capabilities;
- assigning responsibilty to the Commission (as well as Member States) for monitoring and making payments in these areas;
- requiring the Commission to consult (rather than inform) the Management Committees for the sectors in question, before approving the programmes;
- making it obligatory (rather than a matter of preference) that these programmes come from organisations including members from at least two Member States;
- with regard to all measures under the regulation, with the exception of public relations, participation at internationally important events, and information campaigns on the Community system of wines and spirit drinks, requiring the proposer organisation responsible for implementing measures to indicate in the programme it submits to the Commission the arrangements planned for their implementation;
- extending the supervision duties of the Monitoring Committee to include supervision of the results of the measures evaluated by the body or bodies responsible for evaluation of results;
- with regard to those measures to be funded in part by the Community, increasing the Community's contribution to a fixed level of 60% (rather than a maximum of 50%) of the real cost of the measures and, in the case of promotions lasting at least 2 years allowing for a variable (rather than degressive from 60% to 40%) contribution of between 70% and 50% of the real costs of the measures;
- to finance the measures under the regulation, proposing an annual appropriation of EURO 30 million for the financial year 2000, EURO 35 million for 2001, EURO 40 million for 2002 and EURO 50 million for 2003, annually to include EURO 6 million to enable the European Community to tkae part in the information and promotional activities of the IOOC;
- requiring the Commission to carry out a study into the possibility of abolishing export refunds and making part of the funds released available for promotional measures.�