The Interprofessional Gruyère and Comté Committee

The Interprofessionnel Gruyère and Comté Committee was set up by decree on 11 June 1963 (the use of the word Gruyère was subsequently abandoned to designate the AOC, but the CIGC acronym has been kept). At its plenary meeting, representatives of all the professions in the industry decide on the nature of the work to be carried out by the committee.

The committee consults with four special commissions on the main areas of the CIGC’s activity:
• The Publicity commission decides budgetary and strategic orientations relating to publicity in the broadest sense.
• The Information commission is in charge of matters relating to the Internet and internal publications (Nouvelles du Comté and Actu Comté).
• The Economic commission endeavours to follow changes in the market and to keep it stable, particularly in the context of a campaign plan.
• The Technical commission studies, amongst other things, the rules for AOC production and makes decisions in the event of changes in the decree.

The Commissions are very open to all those involved in the industry. The presidents of the Commissions participate in CIGC meetings.

> Contact :

CIGC
Avenue de la Résistance - BP 20026 - F- 39801 POLIGNY cedex
Tél : +33 (0) 384 372 351 - Fax : +33 (0) 384 370 785 - cigc@comte.com

The two main roles of the CIGC

The first is of a socio-economic nature, and consists of helping farmers in the difficult area of the Jura Massif to exercise a long term economic activity; it includes town and country planning and the protection of the environment.

The other is cultural and consists of ensuring that consumer expectations are met in terms of preserving a non-industrialized, small scale production process, a natural and authentic product and the environment.

The main areas in which it is active are:
• The management of the Comté market
• The legal protection of the AOC
• The regulations making up the AOC: definition and monitoring
• Actions aimed at technical improvements
• Research
• Publicity
• Representation of the AOC policy at a national and international level
• The internal cohesion of the industry

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The CIGC’s resources

The CIGC’s annual budget is around € 6.5 million.

92 % of its funding comes from sales of the official green Comté labels*, to which is added public aid to support various initiatives.

Spending is distributed as follows:
- 61 % on publicity and information
- 15 % for technical development / research
- 15 %
- 8 % for the defence of the AOC
- 1 % for market management

*The green labels are little oval tabs made of casein (the same protein that is found in cheese) which are set into the rind, on the surface of each wheel, when they are made. The green label enables each wheel of Comté to be identified with the place and date that it was made.

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