The International Olive Council (called the International Olive Oil Council until 2006) is the intergovernmental organisation responsible for administering the International Agreement on Olive Oil and Table Olives. Also known by the acronym IOC, was set up under article 21 of the 1956 Agreement.

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1956 AGREEMENT

         Convened by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the first International Olive Oil Conference opened on 3 October 1955 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

         The focused efforts of the International Olive Growing Federation (FIO), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations Economic and Social Council helped to bring this conference to a successful conclusion. After fourteen days of negotiations the text of the first international agreement -the 1956 Agreement- was adopted. The date was 17 October 1955. This agreement was then open for signature from 15 November 1955 to 15 February 1956.

         Like all the international commodity agreements, it was legally underpinned by the principles recommended by the United Nations Economic and Social Council and embodied in chapter VI of the Havana Charter. This Charter was adopted on 24 March 1948 at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Employment, which was convened in Havana from 21 November 1947 to 24 March 1948 with the object of adopting principles to help expand world trade.The main objective of the 1956 Agreement was to encourage the international coordination of production, industrialisation and marketing policies in the olive oil sector.

         After being amended by the Protocol of 3 April 1958, it stayed in force from 26 June 1959 until 30 September 1963.

         The International Olive Oil Council was set up as an intergovernmental organisation at its first session, held from 6 to 16 October 1959. The venue was Madrid, where it has been permanently based ever since.

1963 AGREEMENT

         On 26 February 1963 another International Olive Oil Conference was convened at the Palais des Nations in Geneva in order to replace the 1956 Agreement. After laborious negotiations the conference adopted the text of the second International Olive Oil Agreement on 20 April 1963.

         This 1963 Agreement incorporated a number of changes with regard to its predecessor while maintaining a link of continuity in aiming to stabilise and expand the international olive oil market.

         It was open for signature until 30 June 1963. It then succeeded the 1956 Agreement on 1 October 1963 and remained in force until 30 September 1967. After several extensions, it expired on 31 December 1979.

1979 AGREEMENT

         third International Olive Oil Agreement known as the 1979 Agreement substituted the two earlier ones.

        The 1979 Agreement came into force provisionally on 1 January 1980, later doing so definitively on 1 January 1981. Initially, it was set to last five years. However, it was extended for two successive one-year periods and expired in December 1986.

         It was the second international commodity agreement (the Sugar Agreement was the first) to take into account the provisions of Resolution 93 (IV) of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) amongst its general objectives. In addition, it was the first to refer to the fundamental elements of Resolution 1 (III) adopted on 19 March 1979 by the United Nations Conference on a Common Fund under the Integrated Programme for Commodities, one of which is olive oil.

1986 AGREEMENT

         This fourth Agreement emerged from the negotiations that took place in the United Nations Conference on Olive Oil held in Geneva in June 1986. Compared with the earlier Agreements, it features distinct improvements. In particular, specific attention was paid to table olives, technical and promotional activities were strengthened and decision-making by consensus was introduced.

         Known as the International Agreement on Olive Oil and Table Olives, 1986, it came into force definitively on 1 December 1988. It was initially scheduled to last five years but was prolonged until 31 December 1993.

         A Protocol adopted in Geneva on 10 March 1993 under the auspices of UNCTAD then extended the Agreement with amendments for a five-year period ending on 31 December 1998.

         In accordance with article 9 of this Protocol, the Council may decide to prolong the Agreement for successive periods not exceeding two years each time. Consequently, the Council adopted Decision no. DEC-1/88-IV/2003 of 25 June 2003 whereby the 1986 International Agreement on Olive Oil and Table Olives was prolonged until 31 December 2004.

         The general objectives of the 1986 Agreement took into account UNCTAD Resolutions 93 (IV), 124 (V) and 155 (VI), as well as the final Act of UNCTAD VII and the Cartagena Commitment of UNCTAD VIII. They were designed to encourage international cooperation and concerted action to achieve the integrated development of the world olive and olive oil economy. The Agreement also aimed to promote the expansion of trade, to draw up standards for olive products, to modernise olive farming, olive oil production and table olive processing, to transfer technology and to defend and promote olive oil and table olives.

2005 AGREEMENT

         A United Nations Conference was held in Geneva from 25 to 29 April 2005 to negotiate a new Agreement adapting the 1986 International Agreement, which had been extended and amended by the 1993 Protocol and prolonged five times, to the major changes that had taken place in the international olive sector in the intervening years.

         The Conference culminated with the adoption of a new Agreement, known as the International Agreement on Olive Oil and Table Olives, 2005.
         After being deposited with the Government of Spain and opened for signature by the Members from 15 June until 31 December 2005, this Agreement entered into force provisionally on 1 January 200 and definitively on 25 May 2007.

         According to the provisions of article 47, it will remain in force until 31 December 2014 unless the Council of Members decides to prolong it – for not more than two periods of two years each –, or to extend or renew it, or terminate it in advance.

         This latest Agreement introduces some new features as regards its objectives and the way in which the Organisation operates.

         More specifically, it institutionalises the relations between the IOC and stakeholders in the sector and places greater emphasis on protecting the environment in olive growing and the olive products industry, as well as on achieving quality in olive oil and table olives and making known their attributes.
In the case of decision making by the Council of Members, it incorporates provisions for decisions to be taken by a qualified majority if a consensus is not reached within the time limit laid down by the Chairperson.