The negotiations among the EU institutions on updating the rules on the production of organic produce will resume on 3 May (see EUROPE 11752).
A 16th trialogue (Council, European Parliament and Commission) will take place on that day but technical meetings are planned before then to try to draft compromise texts on the areas of disagreement in the regulation (which include presence of pesticides, growing crops under glass, imports, seeds and exemptions).
At the meeting of the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA) on Monday 27 March, the Maltese Presidency of the Council informed the delegations of the outcome of the 22 March trialogue on the various strands of the text and acknowledged that little progress had been made in the talks.
Growing crops under glass. The European Parliament delegation is believed to be prepared to agree to derogations for some plants and other exemptions for northern European countries, but only under strict conditions.
Processed organic foods. Agreement was reached among the institutions on a harmonised approach (procedure leading to authorisation of products and substances that can be used in the production of processed organic foods).
Organic wines. A source has said that it is possible that agreement might be reached on the balance between delegated and implementing acts, and also on the temperature of heat treatment.
Unpackaged products. There was no agreement between Parliament and the Council. Parliament would prefer there to be minimum obligations for operators selling unpackaged products, believing that this would make monitoring of the sector easier.
Imports. Differences remain on the conditions for granting specific authorisations. The Council would like such authorisations to be granted for a period of five years renewable. Parliament, however, wants the maximum period to be two years.
Seeds. There was no meeting of minds on the specific conditions for the marketing of heterogeneous material.
Database. The Council compromise seems to provide a sound basis for discussion but differences remain on the scope of data gathering on livestock. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)