Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 4 • Number 12 • 25th June 2004
European Commission Adopts Action Plan on Organic Farming
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The European Commission on 10 June adopted the “European Action Plan for Organic Food and Farming” in an effort to facilitate the ongoing development of organic farming in the EU. The Plan sets out 21 policy measures aimed at improving information dissemination about organic farming, streamlining public support via rural development, improving production standards, and strengthening research. Measures will include an EU-wide organic label to simplify the myriad of existing national and private schemes. In an effort to facilitate third country compliance with the EU’s organic standard, the Plan proposes to step up efforts to include third countries in the equivalency list, raising the possibility of establishing a permanent Community list of inspection bodies recognised as equivalent for their activities in third countries not already on the equivalence list. In addition, further measures to facilitate trade in organic products from developing countries will be considered. The Plan also calls for continued efforts to ensure that the definition of equivalence with third countries takes into account the different climate and farming conditions and the stage of development of organic farming in each country. Regarding genetically modified organisms (GMOs), the Plan proposes to include provisions in the EU’s GMO labelling regulations to explicitly exclude GM products from being labelled as organic, with a labelling threshold of 0.5 percent for products (other than seed) used in organic farming.
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