28 May, 2018

New organic production regulation approved by the EU

The Council of the European Union has approved on May 22 a new regulation of organic production and the labeling of organic products that will enter into force on January 1, 2021 in order to ensure the quality standard of organic products to the European consumer and harmonize competitiveness among organic producers in the EU and third countries.

The commissioner of agriculture and rural development, Phil Hogan, has stressed the need to modify the previous Regulation 834/2007 regulating organic farming, since the organic sector has grown 125% in the last ten years, which in numbers is translates to 27 billion euros. Therefore, in the last 4 years, the EC has tried to adapt the regulation to the new context so that operators and farmers from countries outside the EU meet the same standards and compete on equal terms.

The Minister of Agriculture, Food and Forestry of the Republic of Bulgaria, Porodzanov, and, also, President of the Council, explained that the new regulation of organic production will promote the sustainable development of organic production in the EU, prevent fraud and unfair practices, and will improve consumer confidence in organic products.

One of the challenges of the next organic production regulation has been to unify the variety of practices and exceptions that were applied in different EU countries. Farmers will have two and a half years to adapt to these changes. The principle of equivalence with imported organic products will also be discontinued to begin applying the observance principle. Thus, imported products will be obliged to at least theoretically meet the Community requirements. The benefits that workers in the agricultural sector will obtain will be the following:

• Production standards will be simplified by eliminating a series of exceptions. These rules will apply to both EU and external countries, replacing the more than 60 standards that until recently had been in place to import organic products into the European market.
• Organic standards will cover new products such as cork, salt, beeswax, matte, vine leaves, palm heart. Additional rules for the breeding of deer, rabbits and poultry are also introduced.
• Certification costs will be reduced and the certification process will be facilitated for small producers.
• The regulation will also apply to seeds

The benefits of the new organic production regulation that consumers will obtain will be:

• More demanding controls in every supply chain.
• More precautionary measures to reduce the risk of pesticide contamination
• The assurance that all products meet EU standards.

You can obtain the organic products logo in this link