Brussels, 08/04/2016 (Agence Europe) - “The Government of Canada and the European Commission are pleased to announce the scope extension of the EU-Canada Organic Equivalence Arrangement (EUCOEA) which enters into force today”, announced Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan and Canadian Agriculture and Agri-food Minister Lawrence MacAulay in a joint statement published on Thursday 7 April.
After five years of successful implementation of the EUCOEA, they agreed to extend the range of products that can be traded under mutual recognition.
Organic wines have been now included in the scope of the EUCOEA. This will allow organic wine certified to EU or Canada organic standards to be sold and labelled as organic in both markets. “Initially, organic wine was not included in the EUCOEA scope due to the review of labelling and wine organic production rules in place in the EU. The new rules were adopted in 2012”, the parties stated.
Hitherto, the import of organic products from Canada into the EU was limited to products grown or processed entirely in Canada. From now on, Canadian organic processed products certified to Canadian organic standards and imported into the EU will be able to contain organic ingredients from third countries. “This decision follows a thorough assessment of the equivalence of EU and Canada organic wine production standards and import control systems.”
Hogan and MacAulay met in Paris at the OECD Meeting of Agriculture Ministers, where they discussed the scope expansion and how it will benefit operators in both markets, reducing certification costs and increasing business opportunities in two of the most important organic markets in the world.
“The Government of Canada and the European Commission look forward to continue working together to improve mutual equivalence arrangement in order to foster trade in organic products between both markets for the benefit of European and Canadian farmers and producers”, state the two. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)