L 182/34 Official Journal of the European Communities 5.7.2001 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1358/2001 of 4 July 2001 laying down specific communication measures in the beef and veal sector THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, (7)  The procedure for presenting and approving programmes and for selecting the implementing bodies needs to ensure the broadest possible competition. Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, (8)  The criteria to be used by the Member States to evaluate ] ] ) the programmes should be laid down. Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 2826/2000 of 19 December 2000 on information and promotion actions for : . ! : - agncultu.ral products on the internal market (1, and in partic (9 Guidelines should be laid down defining the broad lines ular Articles 12 and 16 thereof, and key aspects of the programmes to ensure that they are consistent and effective. Whereas: (10)  Given the state of the market in beef and veal, which has (1)  Regulation (EC) No 2826/2000 harmonises and simpli- suffered frequent disturbances, the Commission should fies the existing rules in the different sectors. In the beef be allowed to adapt approved programmes if necessary and veal sector these rules only concern the promotion to deal with any problems posed by developments on of quality beef meat and information on labelling. the market. (2)  In the meantime, the BSE crisis has led to a sharp fall in (11)  In order to supplement and develop the measures taken the consumption of beef and veal in a number of by professional or interprofessional organisations and by Member States. In order to deal with this serious situa- the Commission, particularly in those Member States tion, specific communication measures are urgently where the sector is not well organised, the Member needed to re-establish consumer confidence in this States should be allowed to present information product. programmes, dealing in particular with organising conferences, seminars and information networks. The . Member States should also inform the Commission of (3)  To ensure that these measures are effective, they measures taken at national level, aiming the setting up derogaFe frorp the existing rules n particular by of information networks, in order to ensure coordina- extending their scope and by adapting the approval tion on between the Commission's services and profes- prOCedure for the programmes as Well as the flnanclng Sional or interprofessional Organisations' rules and thereby act as a transition to the new arrange- ments provided for in Regulation (EC) No 2826/2000. (12)  Financing rules must be set for these measures. As a o o general rule, so that the organisations and Member (4)  Because of the market situation, the communication . A . : . . States assume their responsibilities, the Community programmes submitted by professional or interprofes- . I . should meet only part of the cost of measures. However, sional organisations, covering some or all segments of . . X ) . the Community should meet the full cost of an evalu- the production chain consumption level included, must . . . : y . . . ation carried out by an independent body of the results comprise a first stage consisting of an information o . iy . of the programmes presented by the organisations. campaign to reassure consumers by providing full infor- mation on the key aspects of the Community and national rules in particular ensuring food safety. Prefer- o ) . ) ence is given to programmes which concern several (13) The administrative and fma.nc1a1 management gf promo- segments of the production chain, consumption level tion contracts conc.luc.16d with proposing organisations is incdluded. covered by Commission Regulation (EC) No 481/1999 of 4 March 1999 laying down general rules for the management of promotional programmes for certain (5)  This first stage may be followed by a promotion stage at agri.cultural PTOdUFtS (). Those rules should apply, a later date. The measures must take into account evalu- subject to some adjustments, to the contracts provided ation results of the promotion measures already taken. for in this Regulation. (6)  To avoid any distortion of competition, criteria should (14)  Financial relations between the Commission and the be laid down regarding reference to the specific origin of the products covered by the programmes. () O] L 328, 23.12.2000, p. 2. Member States carrying out information measures should be governed by conventions for this purpose. ® O] L 57, 5.3.1999, p. 8.