Answer given by Mr Wojciechowski on behalf of the European Commission

The Commission is aware of the decision of the Advertising Code Committee and does not object to the conclusions communicated to the Vereniging van de nederlandse pluimveeverwerkende industrie NEPLUVI.

NEPLUVI is one of the partners in a multinational consortium implementing the EU co-financed promotion campaign ‘EU Poultry — Raising the awareness on the high EU production standards and the quality of the EU poultry meat’ under the grant agreement n° 874712 managed by the Consumers, Health, Agriculture and Food Executive Agency ( Chafea ).

The communication messages of such campaign should be in line with the communication strategy that is part of the Grant agreement. It is important to note that the advertisements are not approved in advance by the executive agency, and use of disclaimers excluding the Commission’s responsibility is thus mandatory.

The case at stake is due to an error of judgment made by the beneficiary. The advertisement was since removed and will not be used in future.

In relation to co-financed campaigns for promotion of agricultural products under direct management, the executive agency Chafea is raising awareness with all grant beneficiaries of risks related to the use of communication messages that are potentially misleading[1] or controversial. The beneficiaries are asked not to deviate from the communication strategy and messages agreed in the grant agreement, as they could face grant reductions in case of improper implementation of the grant agreement.

• [1] All traders must comply with EU consumer law, regardless of whether they are grant beneficiaries. In particular, traders should ensure full compliance with Directive 2005/29/EC on unfair commercial practices, which prohibits misleading advertising towards EU consumers and requires accurate information about the main characteristics of products.