The European Commission adopted a Regulation amending Commission Regulation (EC) No. 501/2008 of 5 June 2008 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 3/2008 on information provision and promotion measures for agricultural products on the internal market and in third countries.
The main changes introduced by the amending Regulation are the following:
– Sheep meat is included in the list of eligible products for promotion in both internal market and in third countries. In the context of the difficult situation in the sheep meat sector and with a view to raising awareness in relation to its production and consumption, the EU may co-finance information and promotion programmes for generic sheep meat of Union origin.
– “Optional quality terms”, a new type of quality product along with the PDO/PGI/TSG labels, is also included in the product list, but only eligible for promotion measures on the internal market.
– Generic poultry meat is deleted from the list of products eligible for promotion. It was introduced following the avian influenza crisis, but considering that the period following this has been sufficiently long for restoring consumer confidence, it has now been removed from that list.