Calls for proposals for IOC grants

Following decisions to implement budgetary restrictions, this year the IOC will be issuing only one call for expressions of interest in grants for generic promotion activities in member countries. A ceiling of €10 000 has been fixed for applications and dossiers must reach the IOC by 5 February 2016 at the latest.

Applications can also be submitted at any time for grants of less than €5 000 for both technical cooperation and promotion activities. Applications will be considered by order of arrival and the IOC Executive Secretariat will make every effort to ensure that the largest number of member countries (including those of the EU) can receive at least one grant.

The Council has decided that in 2016 it will award technical cooperation grants exclusively for activities relating to olive diseases (particularly Xylella fastidiosa), the environmental footprint, assistance for setting up physico–chemical testing laboratories and tasting panels in member countries that do not yet have IOC-recognised facilities and the Marrakech World Germplasm Collection.

In the case of promotion grants, activities may be in the form of educational and information campaigns showcasing the chemical and organoleptic characteristics of olive products or their nutritional and health-promoting properties, or in the form of scientific seminars or initiatives such as the organisation of seminars, trade fairs, symposiums and workshops, information points at food and nutrition fairs, the production of promotional material (brochures, CDs, books, etc) or  the invitation of international experts to take part in the planned activity.

Grants will be awarded for activities or events implemented between 1 April 2016 and 31 March 2017.

In the climate of budgetary restrictions, the Council decided to assign no funding for grants for non-member country associations that have signed the self-monitoring quality control agreement in their home markets.