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Areas of Expertise

 

Regulatory Affairs

One of the key practice areas for AGEP is scientific and regulatory affairs. A range of services in this area are targeted to the requirements of specific clients.  These include the establishment of horizon-scanning systems, ensuring that clients are equipped to handle situations such as the publication of a specific scientific study for which proactive and/or reactive communications statements, and questions and answers may be required. Other major activities in this area include bringing together associations and ad-hoc business alliances to agree on common positions. These may include a draft European Commission legislative proposal, for which AGEP then actively engages in the process as the proposal travels through the various Commission, Parliamentary and Council processes.
Through its long experience in this area, AGEP firmly believes that a critical factor for success is to position an association as a constructive, knowledgeable and transparent partner whom the European institutions can rely upon to obtain robust facts and advice to assist in their decision-making.

Environmental Sustainability

AGEP helps its clients to drive efficiency in key areas such as water stewardship, climate protection, biodiversity and sustainable packaging.
 
Environmental stewardship is not new for our clients and remains an ongoing priority, but they recognise that they cannot act in isolation. That is why AGEP is actively seeking ways for its clients to engage with stakeholders and partners in the supply chain to share information about environmental initiatives, technologies, innovation and opportunities, in order to learn from each other and jointly contribute to a better environment. 

Trade

AGEP helps its clients to keep track of the rapid evolving world of trade negotiations and agreements. On behalf of the 27 Member States and represented by the Trade Commissioner, the European Commission pursues an active negotiating agenda, with multilateral and bilateral trade agreements and preferential access to the EU market for developing countries through reduced tariffs under the GSP and EBA schemes. The EU has concluded preferential trade agreements with more than 50 countries and is involved in negotiations with many more.

The European Commission works closely with Europe's trading partners on a day to day basis to remove particular or persistent problems for exporters, open up new opportunities for European investment, and reduce counterfeiting and piracy of European goods. AGEP ensures its clients are well informed about the different stages and content of the relevant negotiating processes and trade agreements and helps them to enter into dialogue with the European Institutions as constructive, experienced and transparent partners.

Consultation with civil society is a fundamental part of EU trade policy-making and AGEP helps its clients to prepare and to take part in these consultation processes, to create opportunities for European companies and to work towards a fair, respected and sustainable trade policy.

Communications

  • Presentations and literature

AGEP works with clients to ensure that they have the necessary tools to present themselves effectively and further their opportunities as a sector.  Information is increasingly carried online with websites offering fact sheets and brochures available for download.  The advances in more interactive, social media now enable stakeholders to log-on for regular updates, to follow blogs and to start a two-way conversation by commenting on wikis and chat rooms.  We help our clients to take advantage of these new opportunities positioning their sector.

  • Strategy development

Clearly a communications strategy needs to sit alongside the broader business objectives and to identify priority audiences and messages.  It also needs to leverage or create appropriate vehicles for carrying the message and starting to engage with stakeholders to further the debate.  AGEP works with clients to understand their business goals and to develop a communications strategy that will support their realization.

  • Media relations

Brussels boasts the world’s largest press corps with some 1600 journalists representing over 1000 media outlets, gathered in the city to follow the agenda of the EU institutions. In addition there are a handful of titles whose circulation is primarily Brussels based and which are influential in reaching politicians, Commission officials, peer organisations, NGOs and the wider Brussels community.
Well planned and targeted media relations can be an effective part of a wider communications strategy enabling organisations to raise awareness of their issues and further certain causes or positions.  AGEP possesses this expertise in-house and works with clients to achieve their media objective.