THE INTERNATIONAL OLIVE COUNCIL

The International Olive Council (IOC), the intergovernmental organisation dedicated to olive oil and table olives, was created under the auspices of the United Nations in 1959 with headquartered in Madrid, Spain. At present, the IOC has 19 members which are Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Egypt, Georgia, European Union (with its 27 Member States), Iran (IR), Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Montenegro, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, State of Palestine, Tunisia, Turkey, Uruguay and Uzbekistan.

The IOC is a decisive player in the sustainable and responsible development of the olive sector with various functions. They are all aimed at modernising olive production, coordinating olive policies, improving the regulation of international trade, defending the quality of the olive sector and promoting olive oil and table olives to increase their consumption.

One of the activities assigned to the IOC to expand international trade is to draw up and adopt trade standards for olive oils, olive pomace oils and table olives, and to devise methods for testing their physico–chemical and organoleptic characteristics. Regarding the regulation of international trade, the IOC established the definitions and analytical characteristics of each of the denominations of olive oils and olive pomace oils traded internationally and of table olives.