Brussels, 22/05/2015 (Agence Europe) - In his draft report on the new rules on organic farming, the MEP Martin Häusling (Greens/EFA, Germany) has proposed, amongst other things, the creation of the European agency on organics, in order to harmonise the implementation of the future legislation.
His other positions include the possibility of declassifying products containing banned substances and the phasing-out of the current derogations.
In his draft report, which contains 350 amendments, Martin Häusling makes many changes to the initial proposal (which had already come under considerable criticism from the Council) on organic farming. This position could further complicate the future negotiations with the Council, which hopes to agree on a general approach at the meeting of the agriculture ministers of the EU in Luxembourg on 16 June (see EUROPE 11312 and 11313). The committee on agriculture of the Parliament will discuss Martin Häusling's draft report on organics for the first time on 26 May.
Among his proposals, he suggests creating an organics agency of the EU, which will be responsible for improving the implementation of the regulation on controls and carrying out coordinated action at European level to collect and assess data and scientific opinions. “The implementation of the current organic rules has shown a number of weaknesses in terms of controls, data collection and a lack of communication between the member states”, the MEP explains.
He argued that a joint database would help to move towards a harmonisation of practices.
End of derogations. The rapporteur also agrees with the European Commission that the derogations granted to producers should be phased out, including those on seeds and feed. However, he added, this phasing-out should be based on reliable data on the availability of the products in question in the regions and the member states and should be accompanied by support measures for the sectors concerned, so as to increase supply effectively.
Declassification and compensation. Although he agrees with the principle of risk analysis-based controls, Martin Häusling wants to keep the annual visit requirement in place. As regards the presence of non-authorised substances (pesticides and herbicides) in organic products - an issue over which the Council is fundamentally divided - the parliamentary rapporteur wishes to increase the responsibility of the operators and control bodies. He is not opposed to a declassification of products, but proposes a mechanism to compensate farmers in the event of accidental contamination.
Lastly, on the import recognition regime, he proposes a three-level system with full equivalence, a transition to equivalence and a compliance mechanism under which control measures would be adapted to the specific characteristics of third countries. (Lionel Changeur)