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The Revision of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91

History of the Revision Process

On 21 December 2005, the European Commission adopted a proposal for a new regulation on organic production. According to Mariann Fischer Boel, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, the new regulation aims at replacing the current rules by simpler, more transparent ones. A general approach on the original proposal which had been modified during 2006 was reached by the Agriculture and Fisheries Council at its meeting of December 19, 2006. On June 12, 2007, the Agriculture Ministers of the European Union reached political agreement on a new regulation on organic production and labelling.

On March 27, 2006 over 90 stakeholders from eleven different EU countries participated at the public conference ’Organic farming: Ready for the next Decade?’ The delegates discussed the Commission’s proposal on the Revision of the Organic Regulation with the Austrian Presidency, the European Commission and the European Parliament. The event was the first opportunity for stakeholders to discuss the proposal at the European level.

On June 28, 2006 the Austrian Presidency drafted in conjunction with its successor, the Finish Presidency (01.07.-31.12.2006) a second compromise paper. The further discussion in the European Council were based on this paper.

On July 19 the IFOAM EU group published a special newsletter on the revision of Regulation 2092/91 at its info page on the revision of the organic legislation. This newsletter informed extensively about the process of the revision of the organic regulation: developments so far, the European Commission proposal, the position of the organic movement, activities of the IFOAM EU Group. An update (Newsletter No. 14) was published in December 2006.

On December 19, 2006 the Agriculture and Fisheries Council reached a general approach on the latest draft of the regulation on the labelling of organic products.

On December 20, 2006, the IFOAM EU Group published a press release. The IFOAM EU Group is pleased that a number of its concerns were taken on board by the Finnish Presidency with support of the Commission. A big step forward is that proposed restrictions on private logos and standards were dropped, as they are essential to maintaining a dynamic and expanding organic food and farming sector. On the whole, the group welcomes the move to a clearer structure and greater readability. Nonetheless, a number of issues still do not reflect the opinion of the whole European organic sector. In particular, stakeholder involvement should be formally reflected in the procedures. The sector remains concerned about GMO’s, the mandatory use of the EU logo, the inadequate link to the food and feed control regulation (882/2004) and the exclusion of catering and non-food products from the scope of the regulation.

On June 12, 2007, the agriculture Ministers of the European Union reached political agreement on a new regulation on organic production and labelling and on July 20, 2007 the new organic regulation was published, the Council Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 of 28 June 2007 on organic production and labelling of organic products and repealing Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91. It will come into force on January 1, 2009. According to a press release of June 12, 2008, of the European Commission the new rules set out a complete set of objectives, principles and basic rules for organic production, and include a new permanent import regime and a more consistent control regime:

  • The use of the EU organic logo will be mandatory, but it can be accompanied by national or private logos.
  • The place where the products were farmed has to be indicated to inform consumers. Food will only be able to carry an organic logo if at least 95 percent of the ingredients are organic. But non-organic products will be entitled to indicate organic ingredients on the ingredients list only.
  • The use of genetically modified organisms will remain prohibited. It will now be made explicit that the general limit of 0.9 percent for the accidental presence of authorised GMOs will also apply to organic products .
  • There will be no changes in the list of authorised substances for organic farming.
  • The new rules also create the basis for adding rules on organic aquaculture, wine, seaweed and yeasts.
  • In the second part of the revision exercise, and building on this new regulation, the existing strict detailed rules will be transferred from the old to the new Regulation.

On September 18, 2008 the implementing rules were published as Commission Regulation (EC) No 889/2008 of 5 September 2008 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 on organic production and labelling of organic products with regard to organic production, labelling and control.

The original propsal of December 21, 2005

The proposal of December 21, 2005 for a Council Regulation on organic production and labelling of organic products is available in the European Union's official languages at the European Commission's organic farming website. According to Beate Huber (FIBL) the main changes according to this proposal are (Please note that by December 2006 the proposal had changed in several aspects) :

  • The current regulation shall be replaced by the attached proposal coming into force in January 2009

  • The regulation will no longer just be a regulation on "labelling organic products" but define the objectives, principles and basic labelling, control, import and production rules.

  • The proposal provides for a certain strictly regulated flexibility, meaning that under defined circumstances less restrictive production rules would be possible.

  • It is aimed at reducing the level of detail in the regulation.

  • The rules for production, labelling, control and import are completely revised.

  • Aquaculture shall also be covered in the regulation (but not wild fishing).

  • The 70 % labelling provision shall not apply any more.

  • The use of the EU logo shall not become mandatory however for products produced within the European Community labelling with a simple standardised text fragment "EU-ORGANIC" shall become mandatory.

  • For imports the equivalency assessments will be based on Codex Alimentarius or the EU Regulation.

  • From 2007 onwards single product access to the EU market will be granted either on the basis of compliance with the EU standards or on the basis of equivalent guarantees certified by control bodies that have been approved by the Commission (meaning that there will be an approval mechanism for third country certification bodies). The Third Country list will remain.

  • The control provisions shall be kept simple by referring to the common framework of Regulation No 882/2004 "on official food and feed controls" meaning the organic inspection shall be incorporated into the regular public food inspection. This would imply major changes in the current inspection and certification system.

It is proposed that the new regulation will apply from 1 January 2009, but that the new rules on imports will come into force on 1 January 2007.

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Documents & Background from the European Commission

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Comments, Documents, Responses (in chronological order)
General Background

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© By Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), Forschungsinstitut für biologischen Landbau 2007/2005. All rights reserved
URL http://www.organic-europe.net
Last modified 22.09.2008

Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL
Ackerstrasse, CH-5070 Frick
Tel: +41 62 865 72 72 Fax +41 62 865 72 73
Internet http://www.fibl.org
Contact: Helga Willer

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