New Organic EU Regulation not mature enough

There was still much work to do on the revision proposal for a new Organic EU Regulation. This message was brought to Agriculture Commissioner Mrs. Fischer-Boel at a meeting by an IFOAM EU Group delegation. The delegation also emphasized the major problems which would hamper the private sector from playing the crucial role in developing organic farming in the EU. There was a number of technical shortcomings which would cause unintended dysfunction, if not resolved.

The president of the IFOAM EU Group stated that they shared the aims of the new regulation, which would enable a successful organic sector – but this had to happen without creating additional bureaucracy. He further mentioned that under the flag of the Lisbon strategy, the EU wanted to strengthen innovation, competitiveness and simplification of EU legislation. As it was now, the new regulation contradicted that. Private standards and logos were named as trade barriers in the memorandum of the proposal. This was considered as wrong, since they didn’t prevent trade, but stimulated demand. Private label programmes were the main driving force in developing a dynamic and competitive organic sector, since they provided the innovation and leadership in organic standard development and marketing. This could never happen at the pan-European level.

The IFOAM EU Group urged the Commission and the Finnish Presidency to give the necessary time to achieve a quality regulation. The priority should be to ensure a successful future development of organic farming.

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