Brussels, 23/05/2006 (Agence Europe) - EU Agriculture Ministers held a first political debate on 22 May on the two proposals to improve the rules for the production and labelling of organic products. Divisions appeared in their ranks on the main issues raised, such as the threshold for the contamination of organic products with GMOs or the use of a compulsory Community logo. The Council President, Austrian Minister Josef Pröll said that the Council's specialist working group would meet on two further occasions to assess the proposals and considered that the Finnish Presidency, which begins on 1st July, should be able to lead Member States to agreement on the dossier before the end of the year. The Ministerial debate focused on:
Contamination with GMOs: the Commission, in its proposal, says in cases where products have been accidentally contaminated with GMOs, current rules on organic farming do not preclude the use of the term “organic” for products whose label mentions GMOs. The proposal bans the use of this term, even where the label mentions GMOs. Farmers were required not to use GMOs or products derived from GMOs, when they are deemed to be aware of their presence through the information contained on the labels accompanying the products or any other accompanying document, says the draft regulation. The Commission also considers that labelling thresholds should be the same for organic and non-organic, unless the detailed rules provide for specific thresholds, for example for organic seeds. It is the issue of the threshold for contamination of organic products with GMOs which showed the greatest divisions among Member States. Ten Member States (Italy, Austria, Greece, Belgium, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia and Cyprus) called for the 0.9% tolerance threshold for conventional crops (beyond which, GMOs must be mentioned on the label) be considerably revised downwards for organic products and seeds. Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel opposed this call, fearing that more restrictive labelling would lead to rapid growth in the prices of organic products, a promising sector for the future.
Community logo: in its proposal, the Commission considers that the Community logo should continue to feature on all products, including imported products, that comply with the provisions of the regulation. Consultation with stakeholders showed that the Community logo should not be compulsory for the moment, given that it might be seen as EU interference in trade freedom of trade within the EU. The Commission proposes, nonetheless, where the product does not carry the Community logo, to make it a requirement for products obtained within the EU to carry the indication “EU-ORGANIC” on labels. The aim is let operators in the production chain and consumers know that the product complies with a single European standard. Ten countries (Italy, France, United Kingdom, Spain, Denmark, Finland, Portugal, Poland, Cyprus and Luxemburg) said they agreed with the to imposition of a compulsory Community logo, almost ten others (including Austria, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Belgium and Czech Republic) were opposed to this, fearing a loss of visibility for consumers of organic products if national logos were removed too quickly. But there was no contradiction between the European and the national logos: there could be peaceful co-existence between the two types of labelling, said Ms Fischer-Boel. Elsewhere, several Member States (France, Austria, Portugal, Hungary, Slovakia, Malta and others) considered that the Commission should not be given further powers in organic farming and the at technical production details should be discussed in a regulation committee and not in a management committee within which the Commission had the final word.
Catering: the Commission considers that the proposal does not cover the preparation and sale to the final consumer of meals in large kitchens, for example in restaurants, hotels, hospitals and canteens, or bars and cafeterias. The majority of Member States ( about fifteen including France, Germany, Austria, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Denmark, Finland, Poland, Czech Republic and Belgium) would, on the contrary, prefer large-scale catering to be included in the scope of the new regulation. Only the United Kingdom, Ireland, Greece, Hungary, Malta and Slovakia are calling for the exclusion of this sector, preferring that Member States legislate in this area.