Rural territories are facing a new situation, marked by a progressive withdrawal of the protection and the aid coming from the national States and the European Union. In addition, they are exposed to an open and competitive space, which has its origin in globalisation and the opening of markets.

The rural territories are not powerful enough to respond to this new situation. In order to present themselves on the market on a collective local basis, several isolated territories have been aiming at setting up a global project of a differentiated identity that mirrors the effort to achieve a territorial quality and is reflected in the image of the brand of territorial quality.Nevertheless, they consider that the success and the viability of this effort can only be guaranteed by a critical mass, which is not always available to an isolated territorial brand. Thus, the territories that already have their own territorial Mark within the framework of the territorial quality project have joined and now share an additional common brand, the EUROPEAN TERRITORIAL QUALITY MARK, which endows them with a critical mass and, consequently, with the capacity of commercial success. It also makes it easier for them to be identified by the consumers.