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COM (84) 508 
 
 
 
Vol. 1984/0 203 
  
 
Disclaimer  
Conformém ent au règlement (CEE, Euratom) n° 354/83 du Conseil du 1er février 1983 
concernant l'ouverture au public des archives historiques de la Communauté économique 
européenne et de la Communauté européenne de l'énergie atomique (JO L 43 du 15.2.1983, 
p. 1), tel que modifié par le règlement (CE, Euratom) n° 1700/2003 du 22 septembre 2003 
(JO L 243 du 27.9.2003, p. 1), ce dossier est ouvert au public. Le cas échéant, les documents 
classifiés présents dans ce dossier ont été déclassifiés conformément à l'article 5 dudit 
règlem ent. 
In accordance with Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 354/83 of 1 February 1983 
concerning the open ing to the public of the historical archives of the European Econom ic 
Communit y and the European Atom ic Energy Communit y (OJ L 43, 15.2.1983, p. 1), as 
amended by Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1700/2003 of 22 September 2003 (OJ L 243, 
27.9.2003, p. 1), this file is open to the public. Where necessary, classified documents in this 
file have been declassified in conformity with Article 5 of the aforementioned regulation.  
In Übereinstimmung mit der Verordnung (EWG, Euratom) Nr. 354/83 des Rates vom  1. 
Februar 1983 über die Freigabe der historischen Archive der Europäischen  
Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft und der Europäischen Atomgem einschaft (ABI. L 43 vom  15.2.1983,  
S. 1), geändert durch die Verordnung (EG, Euratom) Nr. 1700/2003 vom 22. Septem ber 2003  
(ABI. L 243 vom  27.9.2003, S. 1), ist diese Datei der Öffentlichkeit zugänglich. Soweit  
erforderlich, wurden die Verschlusssachen in dieser Datei in Übereinstimmung mit Artikel 5  
der genannten Verordnung freigegeben.  
COMMISSION O F  TH E EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL 
Programme for the Commission's planned measures to promote 
olive oil consumption in the Community during the 
1985/86 marketing year 
(third programme)COM(84) 508 final
Brussels, 8 October 1984
C0M(84) 508 final

£  O Ÿ
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
Article 2 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1970/80 of 22 July 1980 (1) lays down 
that the Commission should communicate to the Council every year the programme 
of measures which it anticipates undertaking with a view to promoting the 
consumption of olive oil in the Community.
The programme which is the subject of this communication will be the third to 
be implemented. It provides for the execution of measures relating to :
- public relations and advertising;
- the dissemination of scientific knowledge;
- market surveys - motivational research.
This programme is intended to continue with the measures provided for in the 
second programme, which is under way at present, and will be finishing in 
various Member States at the end of January 1985.
As in the past, the Commission will, in due course, draw up a detailed 
programme of measures to be executed in 1985, taking account in this respect 
of possible comments and suggestions from the Council.
(1) OJ No L 192, 26.7.1980, p. 5.

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL
PROGRAMME FOR THE COMMISSION'S PLANNED MEASURES TO PROMOTE OLIVE OIL 
CONSUMPTION IN THE COMMUNITY DURING THE 1985/86 MARKETING YEAR
(third programme)
1. Article 11(6) of Regulation No 136/66/EEC (1) on the establishment of a 
common organization of the market in oils and fats lays down that a 
percentage of the consumption aid is to be employed for information 
campaigns and other measures to promote olive oil consumption in the 
Community.
For the marketing years 1978/79, 1979/80, 1980/81 and 1981/82 the 
percentages fixed by the Council were 6%, 4,5%, 3% and 4% respectively; 
for the following marketing years the percentage was 0%.
It is not yet possible to give any precise estimate of the funds available 
from these percentages of the total aid figure. They should, however, be 
between 12,5 mio ECU and 14,5 mio ECU.
Out of the amount available the following sums have already been spent :
1980 0,186 mio ECU
1981 0,142 mio ECU
1982 1,202 mio ECU
1983 1,701 mio ECU
Total 3,231 mio ECU
In addition, the forecast commitment for 1984 is of the order of 
4,526 mio ECU.
If the total of these two amounts, namely 7,76 mio ECU, is subtracted from 
12,5 mio ECU (minimum estimate of available funds), the remaining balance 
is at least 4,74 mio ECU, of which it is proposed that 4 mio ECU be 
employed in 1985 for the information campaigns and other measures 
envisaged. Other items of expenditure which have to be met in 1985, such 
as contributions to the IOOC, consultants' fees, etc., should be added to 
this amount.
(1) 0J No 172, 30.9.1966.

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2. By Regulation (EEC) No 1970/80 (1), the Council laid down the measures 
which could be taken to promote olive oil consumption in the Community.
In addition, pursuant to Article 4 of that Regulation, detailed 
implementing rules were laid down by Commission Regulation (EEC)
No 1348/81 (2) which
- provides for a detailed programme of the measures envisaged to be drawn 
up;
- adopts the procedures for the implementation, and
- lays down the criteria for selecting the proposals put forward in 
response to invitations to tender.
3. The measures proposed for the third promotion campaign can be classified as 
follows :
- public relations exercises and advertising, other promotional measures;
- dessemination of existing scientific knowledge;
- market surveys - motivational research.
It should be noted that, contrary to what was done within the context of 
the first two promotion campaigns, no financing of scientific research work 
into the biological value of olive oil is envisaged for the third promotion 
campaign.
The situation is such that most of the research work initiated under the 
first campaign has generally exceeded the time limits set and, therefore, 
the scientific research work provided for under the second programme can 
only begin at the end of 1984.
Taking account of the time required to complete the work in question, as 
well as to evaluate the results of this work and assess the research topics 
which should be encouraged in due course, the next scientific research 
programme should be introduced in 1986 at the earliest.
Should the need arise, the research work which is considered most 
interesting could be published at the Community's expense.
(1) OJ No L 192, 26.7.1980.
(2) OJ No L 134, 21.5.1981.

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A. Public relations and advertising; other promotional measures
1. The first promotional campaign was confined to Italy and France; this 
involved the use of public relations-type measures with the aim of 
creating a favourable climate for future measures.
2. These measures are being continued during the current marketing year in 
the two Member States; however, whilst in Italy advertising is playing 
a greater part, in France the campaign continues, due to the relatively 
scant budget, to relate solely to public relations measures.
An information programme based on public relations measures has just 
been launched in Greece.
As regards the Federal Republic of Germany, the United Kingdom and 
Belgium, where preliminary market surveys have shown the possibility of 
stimulating interest in olive oil, public relations-type measures aimed 
at projecting the image of olive oil as a quality product with a 
difference are being undertaken during the current marketing year.
Of these three Member States, it is in the Federal Republic of Germany 
that the campaign, although modest in scale, is the most significant; 
experts consider that the potential in this Member State is greater than 
in the other two.
As for the United Kingdom and Belgium, the budgets allocated are more 
limited and do not allow more than one or two types of ad hoc measures 
to be carried out.
3. In the coming campaign it is proposed to continue with the measures in 
progress in Italy, Greece and France, producer countries where olive oil 
is a familiar product with its place in the distribution networks, but 
where consumption is affected or likely to be affected by competition 
from other vegetable oils which are the subject of expensive sales 
campaigns.
Both advertising and public relations measures will be used in these 
countries. Particular stress will be laid on measures in Italy, where 
even a very slight percentage increase in consumption would result in 
fairly significant quantities of oil being consumed.
As regards the non-producer Member States, it was deemed preferable to 
concentrate efforts on the Federal Republic of Germany where the market 
seems more promising; the campaigns will mainly take the form of public 
relations measures accompanied, where necessary, by advertising.

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A public relations programme on a much more modest scale could, should 
the occasion arise, be carried out in the United Kingdom, where 
significant changes to firmly established eating habits seem less likely 
than in the Federal Republic of Germany.
It is essential that the measures taken by the Community in these two 
non-producer Member States, where the market cover of olive oil is 
rather patchy, be subordinated to the efforts of the trade to support 
them both financially and with respect to market structures.
As in the past, the public relations and advertising campaigns will be 
geared to two themes, namely gastronomy and health.
B. Dissemination of scientific knowledge
These measures will be based on the scientific information provided by the 
Commission, and addressed to prescribers (the medical and allied 
professions) as well as to the specialist media whose role is to ensure 
that this information is disseminated to the public at large.
Existing information will be supplemented by the results of the scientific 
research promoted by the Community in 1982/83, reports on which have been 
sent to the Commission. The dissemination of scientific knowledge, which 
was restricted to Italy and France during the first promotional campaign, 
has been extended to Greece for the current one.
The dissemination of information on the nutritional qualities of olive oil 
remains a primary objective; there is still insufficient awareness of 
these qualities, which are one of the factors that make it worthwhile to 
buy olive oil rather than a competing product and justify, to a large 
extent, paying a higher price. It is envisaged that such measures will be 
carried out in the coming campaigns in Italy, Greece, France and the 
Federal Republic of Germany.
C. Market studies - motivational studies
During the first campaign market studies were carried out In Belgium, the 
United Kingdom and the Federal Republic of Germany, which, apart from the 
producer Member States, seem to offer the best consumption potential.

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As part of the second campaign, opinion surveys are at present being 
conducted in France and Italy, which will enable the consumer impact of the 
promotional measures which have been undertaken to be assessed. In 
addition, motivational research is being carried out in Greece, which is 
intended to provide guidance for the public relations campaign. Lastly, in 
Denmark, Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands fairly summary market 
studies are being carried out to assess the chances of future promotion 
campaigns.
With regard to the studies which will be carried out in the third campaign, 
it is envisaged that they should concentrate on those Member States where 
promotion programmes are under way, namely Italy, France, Greece, and the 
Federal Republic of Germany, with the purpose of studying how the public 
perceives the product image, in particular as compared to that of competing 
products, and to trace the way in which this perception changes in response 
to promotional measures; it would be interesting in this respect to obtain 
a picture of the consumer market at a given moment and to measure the 
receptiveness of consumer habits in each of these Member States to the 
campaigns to promote olive oil as well as those for competing products.
Public invitations to tender will be issued in respect of the measures 
provided for in A, B and C above.
4. Budgetary breakdown
It is envisaged that a total of 4 mio ECU will be allocated to the measures 
outlined above.
However, in view of the difficulty of assessing at this stage exactly how 
much should be allocated to each category of measures in the different 
Member States, only tentative maximum figures have been fixed for each of 
the categories. The breakdown of these amounts by country will be carried 
out later in the detailed programme which will be submitted to the 
Commission prior to the issuing of the invitations to tender for the 
different measures.
The tentative maximum figures for each of the categories are as follows :
A. Public relations, advertising and other
promotionsl measures 3.000.000 ECU
B. Dissemination of scientific knowledge 820.000 ECU
C. Market studies 180.000 ECU

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To the above amount should be added the payments to the International Olive
Oil Council, namely :
$ 41.000 which represents the supplementary Community contribution to the 
Propaganda Fund for 1983;
$ 41.000 which represents the additional contribution for 1984;
(these additional amounts are due to the fact that the Propaganda 
Fund was raised from $300,000 to $400,000 as from 1983 and the 
Community was unable to meet this increase since the commitments 
for the Community contribution were inadequate);
$161,000 which represents the Community contribution to the Propaganda Fund 
for 1985,
giving a total of $243,000. (J.)
Lastly, certain as yet unspecified amounts should be set aside for 
promotional and scientific consultancy contracts.
(1) On the basis of the conversion rate in force on 1 August 1984, 
$ 243000 = 316246 ECU (1 ECU = $0,768389).