Brussels, 06/05/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 6 May, the European Commission adopted a package of measures aiming to guarantee better adherence to health and safety standards throughout the agri-food industry. It has learned a few lessons from the horse meat scandal and aims to reassure farmers about the use of seeds. The European Parliament and Council will now adopt their positions on the legislative package, which is expected to enter into force in 2016.
Currently, EU legislation on the food production chain comprises nearly 70 texts. The reform on the table will make it possible to reduce this body to 5 legislative texts and to lighten the formalities surrounding the processes and procedures which apply to farmers, stock breeders and operators in the food sector (producers, processors and distributors), to allow them to do their jobs more easily.
At a press conference, Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection Tonio Borg laid much emphasis on the need to restore the confidence of citizens and the EU's trading partners, following the scandal of the fraudulent use of horsemeat instead of beef. This is particularly important as the European agri-food sector employs 48 million and has a total production value close to €750 billion a year (it is the second-largest economic sector in the Union). The commissioner points out that Europe applies the strictest food safety standards in the world. Although the recent horsemeat scandal did not bring about any risks to health, it has shown that there is room for improvement. Borg explained that the reform will allow for sanctions (against operators guilty of fraud) which will be commensurate with the economic gain as a result of the fraud. It is also proposed that the Commission be given the power to require testing and controls in areas such as food fraud (at the moment, the Commission can only recommend that the countries carry this out), in order to strengthen the tools to fight fraud. Furthermore, the reform will extend and strengthen the financing of the effective implementation of these controls. Micro-enterprises will be exempt from the new fees system, but not from the controls.
Here is an overview of the legislative package proposed.
Official controls. The Commission has recognised the need to strengthen the instruments at the disposal of the competent authorities of the member states to ensure that EU legislation is being respected on the ground (by means of controls, inspections and testing). The new provisions, which are more risk-based, will allow the competent authorities to focus their resources on priority areas. The current system of fees (which applies to milk and to meat), which is used to pay for these controls to be carried out within a viable system across the entire chain, will be extended to other parts of the industry which are not currently subject to these fees. The member states will also be called upon fully to include anti-fraud controls in their national control plans and to ensure that financial sanctions in this area represent genuinely deterrent amounts.
Animal health. The package contains just one legislative text proposal to regulate animal health within the Union. This text is based on the principle of “prevention is better than cure”. The aim is to tighten up current standards and to bring in a common system, making it possible to improve the detection of disease and tackle it, and also to coordinate the treatment of risks to health and the safety of food and animal feed. Thanks to this improved system and more efficient rules on identification and registration, those who work to protect the food production chain (farmers and veterinary surgeons, for example) will be able to react quickly, to limit the spread of disease and to reduce their effects on farm animals and consumers as much as possible. Thus additionally, the text brings in a classification and an order of priority or diseases which require intervention at Union level. It also allows greater account to be taken of risks and a more appropriate use of resources. This new framework presents the flexibility required to allow zoo-sanitary measures to be modulated on the basis of the size and nature of the establishments (for example, small and medium-sized enterprises, hobby farms, etc), but also local situations, particularly as regards registration and accreditation obligations applicable to the establishments and the keeping of animals and products. On a larger scale, the legislation needs to be flexible and robust enough to allow an efficient reaction throughout the Union in the event of major climate variations.
Plant health. The products grown in the Union are worth €205 billion a year. European agriculture, forestry and natural heritage are under threat from parasites and plant disease. The introduction of new harmful organisms has increased, due to the globalisation of trade and climate change. In order to avoid new parasites from setting up home permanently in the Union and in order to protect farmers and the forestry sector, the Commission is proposing to update the current phytosanitary regime. Greater attention will be paid to high-risk trade from third countries and to increasing the traceability of plants on the internal market. The legislation also brings in better surveillance and early eradication of outbreaks of new harmful organisms, together with financial compensation for farmers affected by these organisms subject to quarantine.
Plant propagating material (including seeds). In the world, 60% of the value of exports of seeds come from the Union. The raft of measures brings in simplified and increasingly flexible commercialisation rules for seeds and other plant propagating material, with the aim of guaranteeing the productivity, adaptability and diversity of plant and forestry production in Europe, and facilitating trade in such items.
The use of seeds in private gardens will not come under Union legislation and individuals may continue to buy any kind of plant material and to sell seeds in small quantities. Furthermore, it will be confirmed that any non-professional (amateur gardeners, for example) may trade in seeds with other individuals without having to be concerned by the provisions of the proposed regulation.
The legislation aims to extend the choice open to users, with new, improved and tested varieties, materials which do not correspond to the definition of a variety (heterogeneous material), traditional varieties and niche materials. It should be stressed that the compulsory registration of seeds for any commercial uses is already part of European legislation.
The new provisions take account of the nature of the material, production conditions and the size of the company in question. This means that ancient traditional varieties and heterogeneous material are subject to less stringent registration rules. These categories are exempted from trials and certain obligations included in the legislation.
In addition, the administrative burden will be reduced from micro-enterprises (fewer than ten employees and turnover of less than €2 million), which will be able to sell any kind of material as “niche material” without having to register varieties. Lastly, micro-enterprises are exempted from the need to pay registration fees.
“We will not support a ban on old and rare seeds in Europe. We are against any threats to Europe's biodiversity”, said MEPs Albert Dess (EPP, Germany), coordinator of the EPP groupoin the EP committee agriculture, and Richard Seeber (EPP, Austria), coordinator of the groupoin the EP environment committee.
The Greens/EFA group at the EP takes the view that the proposal is counter-productive and dangerous. According to José Bové, it tightens the stranglehold of the four global groups which monopolise seeds. “By reducing country people's rights to use their own seeds, by tightening up the conditions for the recognition of varieties by small independent business people, by limiting the movement of and trade in grains between associations and between planters, the European Commission is sweeping away 10,000 years of agricultural history”, he argued. At the EP, the Greens will therefore work to amend the proposed regulation in order to ensure the preservation of biodiversity and the protection of ancient or local varieties. (LC/transl.fl)