They comprise a preamble and five articles.

The preamble

• Provides information concerning the origin and the evolution of the idea of the Territorial Quality Brand.
• Acknowledges the need to establish principles and values that are associated to the concept of territorial quality, as well as rules that allow its diffusion.
• Lists the advantages of the principles of the concept of territorial quality with which the existing brands are endued.
• Defines the relation between the territorial brands and their identity, as well as the need for a critical mass in order to guarantee the success of the brands.

Article 1

Defines the parties that may benefit from the use of the European Brand of Territorial Quality:

• Brands that refer to natural or administrative territories or territories having a historical identity, larger than a district and smaller than an administrative region (NUTS II), and which are predominantly rural.
• Territorial brands showing a development process that is based on two great values:>

• territorial quality
• sustainable development

Article 2

Describes the territorial quality approach through eight major principles, which are detailed and evaluated therein.

1. Participation of all the actors in each level of organisation and management andguaranteedtransparency of actions on the basis of the partners’ voluntary and formal commitment.
    
2. Guaranteed equal access of all persons and especially of those belonging to disadvantaged social groups (young persons, women, etc.), to the development of their cultural, social and economic interests.
3. Facilitation of synergies between the different social and professional organisations aiming at the better promotion of the products, the services, and the heritage of each of the territories.
4. Creation of solidarity between the different actors, and, in particular, between the producers of one or more sectors, as well as between the producers and the consumers in each territory and between the territories.
5. Promotion of the establishment and the permanence of the transversal quality approach for all products and services of each of the territories.
6. Guaranteeing the authenticity of know-how and traditions. Building up an identity based on the common values shared by the actors of the territory, and supporting the multicultural and European dimension of the exchanges between the persons. Developing the role of non-profit organisations.
7. Meeting the new expectations of the consumers and users on the basis of this collective identity that translates into an image shared by the whole territory.


8. Guaranteeing that the firms and organisations which hold the brand are socially responsible, and that their products and services transcend the minimal demands of the current legislation.

Article 3

Each territorial brand must dispose of its own management and control body with own rules, in charge of granting (or refusing) to firms and organisms the right to use the brand, in view of the general and specific terms governing each brand, in accordance with its culture, its history and its organisation.

Article 4

Each territorial brand must have a logo that plots the coexistence between the European Territorial Quality Brand, the territorial quality brand and the quality brand of the firm or the organism, on the basis of the European Territorial Quality Brand logo.

Article 5

The awarding and control Committee awards the European Territorial Quality Brand, which completes the territorial quality brand of recognition.

Committee rules shall be drawn up. Such rules stipulate its duties, its composition, and its mode of operation, as well as the mechanisms of evaluation and concession of the right to use the brand.