European Commission

Asked by the Council for a detailed concept by the end of 2005, the Commission sent a working document to member states and stakeholders on September 22, 2005 asking for comment within three weeks. On December 21, 2005 the European Commission finally published its proposal for a “COUNCIL REGULATION on organic production and labelling of organic products”. The Commission said in a press release that the proposal aims to improve clarity for both consumers and farmers. “The new rules will be simpler, and will allow a certain amount of flexibility to take account of regional differences in climate and conditions.”

Member states, the European Parliament and the organic sector were all critical that it is difficult to assess the Commission proposal as a general framework without knowing the detailed implementing rules (which were to be decided later).

Therefore on June 16, the European Commission provided officially an outline (working document) of the implementing rules. This is an analysis table showing how the Commission intents to transform the existing annexes (and other parts) into the new Regulation. These indications are not legally binding, but instead represent a political commitment by the Commission.

European Council

After receiving the Commission proposal, the Austrian Presidency (January to June 2006) organised several meetings in a special Council working group. They aimed to adopt the proposal by the end of their presidency but member states, as well as the organic sector, claimed that this was insufficient time. Therefore the Austrians decided finally that “quality prevails over speed” and passed over the final decision to the Finnish Presidency (July to December 2006).

In April, the Austrian Presidency provided a first compromise paper (Part one & two) to bring forward the discussion in the Council.

During the agriculture council on May 22, the European agriculture ministers welcomed in principle the Commission’s revision proposal even if some detailed questions have to be further negotiated and discussed. The German minister raised some principle doubts on the proposal.

The main discussion between member states were about:

• The EU logo - mandatory or not,
• The question of separate labelling thresholds for GM contamination of organic products,
• Retaining the 70-95% labelling category or not,
• Certification and control issues,
• The ongoing decision making process, for the implementing rules (management committee or regulatory committee), and for approving imports.

On June 28, the Austrian Presidency, in conjunction with its successor the Finnish Presidency, produced a second compromise paper.  This will be the basis for the European Council’s continuing discussion.

European Parliament