Brussels, 29/03/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 29 March, the European Parliament reinforced provisions of future legislation on the labelling and production of organic products. Stricter measures are being brought in to avoid any risk of contamination of organic products by GMOs. The report by Marie-Hélène Aubert (Greens/EFA, France) has, however, been sent back to the competent parliamentary committee, in order to bring pressure to bear on the European Commission to agree to modify the legal basis of the regulation. The objective of the EP, which wants to see a double the legal base (article 37 of the Treaty covering the agricultural aspects of the legislation and article 95 for internal market-related aspects), is to ensure that it is an active- and voting- partner in the definition of the rules of execution to be adopted to assess the substances and practices which are authorised in organic farming.
The European Parliament has adopted a long raft of amendments with the effect of considerably reinforcing the initial proposal, particularly on issues related to GMOs. According to the European Commission, foodstuffs cannot be sold as organic products if they contain GMOs, unless they were contaminated accidentally, up to a Community threshold limit of 0.9% GMO in force for conventional foodstuffs. By 324 votes in favour, 282 against and 50 abstentions, the EP adopted an amendment tabled by the group of European Socialists, aiming to reduce this threshold to 0.1% for organic products. Pierre Jonckheer, vice-president of the Greens/EFA group, added that “we will continue our efforts to ensure that this threshold also applies to conventional crops”. By a small majority, the EP also asked for the Commission to make a proposal, before 1 January 2008, for a directive providing for measures of precaution in order to avoid contamination of the food chain by GMOs, with clear rules in terms of responsibility and the application of the polluter-pays principle. Other changes have been brought in to ensure that only seeds certified organic, with no GMOs, can be used and to ensure that the producers of animal feed and processors “take all measures necessary to avoid contamination and prove that there is no contamination”. The MEPs added provisions in order to improve controls on the use of phyto-sanitary products and of veterinary treatments and national derogations.
According to the EP's vote, the use of the Community logo (used for foodstuffs containing 95% organic ingredients) must be obligatory, rather than just a possibility. The MEPs withdrew the “EU” reference in the “EU/ORGANIC” reference which the Commission is proposing to make obligatory. In the view of the EP, the systematic association of these two terms could mislead consumers, who may think that all organic products come from the EU. In the same logic, the MEPs are asking for the country of origin to be included on the label.
Other amendments aim to reinforce controls, including on imports: - obligation, for national control bodies, to be “certified in line” with European standards; - total product traceability (all stages of production, preparation and distribution) must be guaranteed by the inspection systems of the Member States; - updating the list of authorities and control bodies accredited and which must be made available to interested parties. Lastly, third-party operators would, under the EP's amendments, have to be able to provide importers or the national authorities with an attestation issued by a competent Community control body.
The EP is ensuring that the regulation is extended to the entire collective catering sector (delicatessens, canteens, restaurants and other similar catering service providers). Aside from the production, processing, packaging and labelling of products, the new regulation should also concern wrapping, production and warehousing, the MEPs believe. The EP also supports amendments to exclude fisheries products from the regulation, because it wants to see specific legislation for organic fisheries products. Lastly, the EP improves the definitions of the principles and objectives of organic farming and includes non-food products in the regulation, such as textiles or organic cosmetics.
“The use of GMOs, or GMO contamination, are absolutely banned in organic farming. The amendments bring in stricter measures to remove any risk of contamination of organic products by GMOs”, said Ms Aubert, after the vote. Mr Jonckheer described as positive the introduction of the European logo, but added that it was “vital” for the Member States to be able to keep their existing national logos and “set the bar for standards higher if they want”.
“This is a great victory for everyone who is mistrustful of GMOs, because this detection threshold of 0.1% means no GMO inorganic products. It would really have been unacceptable to admit that, de facto, contamination could not be prevented, not a guarantee that a product, even an organic one, is exempt from GMOs”, said Bernadette Bourzai (PES, France). (lc)