September 02, 2000 The 2000 IFOAM General Assembly of Basel, Switzerland which has had 284 participating organizations from 57 countries views with great alarm the decision of the Irish Department of Agriculture to remove the right of the grassroots certifiers in Ireland to operate private certification schemes with their own standards under Regulation 2092/91.
We believe this action is against the interests of Irish consumers and
that it could jeopardize the export of Irish products to markets with
higher requirements.
We urge the Department to reconsider this decision.
IFOAM is the organization, which represents the international organic
agriculture movement with 690 members in more than 100 countries. It
develops international organic standards and promotes organic markets.
Approved by the General Assembly, Basel/Switzerland
September 2000
