The new funds will be available to producer organisations, trade organisations and public bodies to sponsor their products and disseminate information abroad on the goodness of European fisheries products, both wild and farmed.
Campaigns need to include at least another European food product, and products will feature the label: "Enjoy, it's from Europe". Calls to be launched early in 2016.
Operators wishing to find new markets for their fish and widen their client base abroad can now apply for extra funding. A total of €110 million has been made available by the European Commission and will go to promote the global consumption of made-in-the-EU fishery and aquaculture products. The figure is expected to keep increasing until it almost doubles in 2019.
In exchange for funds that will help them increase their market shares overseas, producers will inform foreign consumers of the high standards and broad diversity of EU products, and will underline the products' origin with a common label: “Enjoy, it´s from Europe”.
This new amount complements the aid for promotional campaigns that fishery and aquaculture products are already entitled to through the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund. But there is a difference: in this case seafood products are eligible only if they are being promoted in conjunction with another agricultural or food item produced in the EU.
The European Commission co-finances up to 70-80 per cent of the operator's campaign. There is no national co-financing, so that the playing field is level, and selection procedures for proposals have been streamlined to the maximum extent possible. The first call for proposals will be launched in the first quarter of 2016.
Who can apply?
Funding under the new EU promotion scheme is available to:
- Trade or inter-trade organisations representative of the sector(s) concerned at Member State or EU level, including inter-branch organisations recognised in accordance with the CMO Regulation;
- Producer organisations or associations of producer organisations recognised in accordance with the CMO Regulation; and
- Bodies entrusted with a public service mission by the Member States to promote and provide information on agricultural and fishery products.
The new scheme counterparts the information campaigns for European consumers carried out by the Commission since the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy, such as Inseparable and Farmed in the EU.
