On Friday 28 April, the European Union and Chile signed the agreement on trade in organic products reached last year (see EUROPE 11527).
The agreement will bring mutual recognition of organic production rules and control systems.
This will help the EU increase its exports of organic products to Chile. The agreement was signed by European Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete, Deputy Prime Minister of Malta Louis Grech and Chilean Agriculture Minister Carlos Furche Guagardo. It also provides for increased cooperation, involving regular exchange of information, regular updating of the products covered by the organic farming rules and a dispute settlement system for organic trade.
The organic logo currently used by the EU will be protected by the agreement, the first of its type to be concluded with a Latin American country.
The agreement will come into effect once the ratification procedures by both parties have been completed. New opportunities for growth may be expected, then, for the EU organic sector which has grown at around 5.5% per year on average over the past 10 years. Nearly 6% of the land available for farming in the EU is used for organic farming.
The European legislator is currently negotiating revisions of European rules on organic farming. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)