The Maltese Presidency of the Council of the EU submitted a revised compromise on the proposal on organic farming (see EUROPE 11806) to member states on Thursday 22 June.
The text will be discussed by the experts on the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA) on Monday 26 June. The Presidency is seeking a mandate to negotiate a final compromise with the European Parliament delegation at a last trialogue meeting on Wednesday 28 June.
The Maltese compromise text incorporates suggestions made by Commissioner Phil Hogan on two tricky points at the Agriculture Council on 12 June. He has suggested, with regard to pesticide residue, allowing countries that wish to do so to apply their national legislation on thresholds for disbarring products from being called organic.
The Commission would then present a report evaluating the situation, four years after the new regulation comes into force. This report could come with a legislative proposal to harmonise rules.
On growing crops in containers under glass (“demarcated beds”), the Commission has proposed keeping derogations enjoyed by some northern European countries for a period of ten years.
The derogations permit crops to be grown in containers in glasshouses but is limited in time and in area (areas certified as organic until July 2017). The text makes provision for the phasing out of these derogations over a period of ten years, a Commission report and, if necessary, a legislative proposal. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)