The first calls for promotion campaigns for EU agricultural products under new EU promotion rules have been opened by the Commission.
Under the new policy, applicable since 1 December 2015, EU funds are available to co-finance multi-annual projects aimed at finding new markets and promoting EU agricultural products not only within the EU, but also on third country markets – with different rates of co-funding applicable. Some €111 million is available for promotion under the EU budget in 2016.
The calls for proposals set out the details of the objectives, criteria, financial provisions, timetable and procedure for the submission of proposals for «simple» and «multi» programmes.
For «simple» programmes (from one or more organisation in the same Member State), the call details the priorities of the Commission for promotion campaigns in the internal and external markets. For external markets, it notably targets a selected list of third countries where there is the highest potential for growth. In order to react to the difficult situation faced by the dairy and pig sectors, the Commission has also earmarked an amount of €30 million for promotion campaigns on dairy and pig meat.
The 2016 call for «multi» programmes (from organisations in more than one Member State or one or more European organisation) only comprises one priority, namely multi programmes in the internal market or in third countries, due to the fact that for 2016, the budget for multi programme is €14 million. The amount allocated for multi programmes should increase significantly in the coming years as envisaged in the reform: from around €50 million in 2017 to around €100 million as from 2019.
Deadline for application and new electronic portal: Applications should be submitted to the Commission (rather than the Member State authorities) by 28 April 2016. The application should be submitted directly to the Commission via the new dedicated electronic portal. The Commission will then evaluate the applications and decide in autumn which projects to accept.
Information Day: The European Commission is organising an Information Day on 26 February 2016 in order to present the 2016 calls for proposals, which is open to all potential beneficiaries, advertising agencies as potential implementing bodies and Member States. The Info day will notably focus on the presentation of the new online submission and provide guidance on the preparation of proposals.
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