COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 1804/1999
of 19 July 1999
supplementing Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91 on organic production of agricultural products and indications referring thereto on agricultural products and foodstuffs to include livestock production
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 37 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission(1),
Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament(2),
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee(3),
Whereas:
(1) Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91(4) provide that the Commission is to put forward proposals before 30 June 1995 concerning the principles for, and specific inspection measures covering, organic production of livestock, unprocessed livestock products and products intended for human consumption containing ingredients of animal origin;
(2) Demand for organically produced agricultural products is rising and consumers are increasingly attracted by such products;
(3) Livestock production allows that range of products to be extended and permits the development on agricultural holdings practising organic farming of complementary activities accounting for a major share of income;
(4) This Regulation harmonises rules of production, labelling and inspection for the most relevant livestock species; for species, other than aquatic species, for which no rules of production are developed in this Regulation, it is appropriate for consumer protection to harmonise at least the labelling requirements and the inspection system; for agriculture products such rules should be developed as soon as possible;
(5) Moreover, livestock production is fundamental to the organisation of agricultural production on organic-production holdings in so far as it provides the necessary organic matter and nutrients for cultivated land and accordingly contributes towards soil improvement and the development of sustainable agriculture;
(6) In order to avoid environmental pollution, in particular of natural resources such as the soil and water, organic production of livestock must in principle provide for a close relationship between such production and the land, suitable multiannual rotation systems and the feeding of livestock with organic-farming crop products produced on the holding itself;
(7) In order to prevent pollution of water by nitrogenous compounds, organic-production livestock holdings should have appropriate storage capacity and plans for the spreading of solid and liquid livestock effluents;
(8) Pastoral stockfarming carried out in accordance with the rules of organic farming is an activity particularly suited to the maintenance and exploitation of the potential of abandoned areas;
(9) A wide biological diversity should be encouraged and the choice of breeds should take account of their capacity to adopt to local conditions;
(10) Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and products derived therefrom are not compatible with the organic production method; in order to maintain consumer confidence in organic production, genetically modified organisms, parts thereof and products derived therefrom should not be used in products labelled as from organic production;
(11) Consumers should be given guarantees that the products have been produced in accordance with this Regulation; as far as technically possible, this should be based on the traceability of livestock products;
(12) Livestock must be fed on grass, fodder and feedingstuffs produced in accordance with the rules of organic farming;
(13) Under the present circumstances, stockfarmers may experience difficulty in securing supplies of feedingstuffs for organically reared livestock and therefore authorisation should provisionally be granted for a limited number of non-organically produced feedingstuffs to be used in restricted quantities;
(14) In addition, in order to provide for the basic nutritional requirements of livestock, certain minerals, trace elements and vitamins may need to be used under well defined conditions;
(15) Animal-health management should mainly be based on prevention, by measures such as appropriate selection of breeds and strains, a balanced high-quality diet and a favourable environment, in particular as regards rearing density, livestock housing and husbandry practices;
(16) The preventive use of chemically-synthesised allopathic medicinal products is not permitted in organic farming;
(17) However, when animals become sick or injured, they should be treated immediately by giving preference to phytotherapeutic or homeopathic medicinal products and by limiting to a strict minimum the use of chemically-synthesised allopathic medicinal products in order to guarantee the integrity of organic production for consumers it should be possible to take restrictive measures such as doubling the withdrawal period after use of chemically synthesised allopathic medicinal products;
(18) In most cases livestock should have access to free-range exercise areas or grazing, weather conditions permitting, and such free-range areas should in principle be organised under an appropriate system of rotation;
(19) Housing for all species of livestock should satisfy the needs of the animals concerned as regards ventilation, light, space and comfort and sufficient area should accordingly be provided to permit ample freedom of movement for each animal and to develop the animal's natural social behaviour;
(20) Systematic operations which lead to stress, harm, disease or the suffering of animals during the production, handling, transport or slaughtering stages should be reduced to the minimum; however, specific interventions essential to certain types of production may be permitted; the use of certain substances to stimulate growth or modify breeding cycles is not compatible with the principles of organic farming;
(21) The special features of beekeeping call for specific provisions, in particular to ensure that sources of pollen and nectar of adequate quality are available in sufficient quantities;
(22) All operators marketing products of organically reared livestock should be subject to regular and uniform inspections; a register should be kept accessible at the holding and updated with details of livestock arriving at and leaving the holding and any treatment administered;
(23) Regional differences in agricultural and climatological conditions call for certain transitional periods for certain practices, and regarding the characteristics of livestock buildings and installations;
(24) The current diversity of established practices for organic production of livestock between the Member States requires that it should be possible for Member States to apply more restrictive rules for the livestock and livestock products produced in their territory;
(25) The indications in the labelling, advertising material or commercial documents which are considered by the consumer as a reference to the organic production method are reserved by Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91 for products produced in accordance with that regulation;
(26) Certain indications are generally considered by the consumer as a reference to the organic production method;
(27) However, it is necessary to provide a transitional period in order to permit trade-mark holders to adapt their production to the requirements of organic farming, provided that such a transitional period is available only to trade marks bearing the aforementioned indications where application for registration was made before the publication of Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91 and that the consumer is informed appropriately of the fact that the products are not produced according to the organic production method,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91 is hereby amended as follows:
1. Article 1 shall be replaced by the following: "Article 1
1. This Regulation shall apply to the following products, where such products bear, or are intended to bear, indications referring to the organic production method:
(a) unprocessed agricultural crop products; also livestock and unprocessed livestock products, to the extent that principles of production and specific inspection rules for them are introduced in Annexes I and III;
(b) processed agricultural crop and livestock products intended for human consumption prepared essentially from one or more ingredients of plant and/or animal origin;
(c) feedingstuffs, compound feedingstuffs and feed materials not covered under subparagraph (a) as from the entry into force of this Regulation referred to in paragraph 3.
2. By way of derogation from paragraph 1, where the detailed production rules are not laid down in Annex I for certain animal species, the rules provided for labelling in Article 5 and for the inspections in Articles 8 and 9 shall apply for these species and the products therefrom, with the exception of aquaculture and aquaculture products. Pending the inclusion of detailed production rules, national rules or in the absence thereof private standards accepted or recognised by the Member States shall apply.
3. The Commission shall, not later than 24 August 2001, propose a regulation in accordance with the procedure in Article 14 providing for labelling requirements as well as inspection requirements and precautionary measures for products mentioned in paragraph (1)(c), as far as these requirements are related to the organic production method.
Pending the adoption of the Regulation referred to in the first subparagraph for the products mentioned in paragraph (1)(c), national rules in conformity with Community law or, in the absence thereof, private standards accepted or recognised by the Member States shall apply.";
2. Article 2 shall be replaced by the following: "Article 2
For the purpose of this Regulation, a product shall be regarded as bearing indications referring to the organic production method, where, in the labelling, advertising material or commercial documents, such a product, its ingredients or feed materials are described by the indication in use in each Member State, suggesting to the purchaser that the product, its ingredients or feed materials have been obtained in accordance with the rules of production laid down in Article 6 and in particular the following terms or their usual derivatives (such as bio, eco etc.) or diminutives, alone or combined, unless such terms are not applied to agricultural products in foodstuffs or feedingstuffs or clearly have no connection with the method of production:
- in Spanish: ecológico,
- in Danish: økologisk,
- in German: ökologisch, biologisch,
- in Greek: βιολογικό,
- in English: organic,
- in French: biologique,
- in Italian: biologico,
- in Dutch: biologisch,
- in Portuguese: biológico,
- in Finnish: luonnonmukainen,
- in Swedish: ekologisk.";
3. Article 3 shall be replaced by the following: "Article 3
This Regulation shall apply without prejudice to other Community provisions or national provisions, in conformity with Community law, concerning products specified in Article 1, such as provisions governing the production, preparation, marketing, labelling and inspection, including legislation in foodstuffs and animal nutrition.";
4. The definition "preparation" in Article 4(3) shall be replaced by the following: "3) 'preparation' shall mean the operations of preserving and/or processing of agricultural products (including slaughter and cutting for livestock products), and also packaging and/or alterations made to the labelling concerning the presentation of the organic production method of the fresh, preserved and/or processed products;"
5. The following definitions shall be added to Article 4: "11. 'livestock production' shall mean the production of domestic or domesticated terrestrial animals (including insects) and aquatic species farmed in fresh, salt or brackish water. The products of hunting and fishing of wild animals shall not be considered as organic production;
12. 'genetically modified organism (GMO)' shall mean any organism as defined in Article 2 of Council Directive 90/220/EEC of 23 April 1990 on the deliberate release into the environment of genetically modified organisms(5);
13. 'GMO derivative' shall mean any substance which is either produced from or produced by GMOs, but does not contain them;
14. 'use of GMOs and GMO derivatives' shall mean use thereof as foodstuffs, food ingredients (including additives and flavourings), processing aids (including extraction solvents), feedingstuffs, compound feedingstuffs, feed materials, feed additives, processing aids for feedingstuffs, certain products used in animal nutrition (under Directive 82/471/EEC)(6), plant protection products, veterinary medicinal products, fertilisers, soil conditioners, seeds, vegetative reproductive material and livestock;
15. 'veterinary medicinal products' shall mean products as defined in Article 1(2) of Council Directive 65/65/EEC of 26 January 1965 on the approximation of provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action relating to medicinal products(7);
16. 'homeopathic veterinary medicinal products' shall mean products as defined in Article 1(1) of Council Directive 92/74/EEC of 22 September 1992, widening the scope of Directive 81/851/EEC on the approximation of provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action relating to veterinary medicinal products and laying down additional provisions on homeopathic veterinary medicinal products(8);
17. 'feedingstuffs' shall mean products as defined in Article 2(a) of Council Directive 79/373/EEC of 2 April 1979 on the marketing of compound feedingstuffs(9);
18. 'feed materials' shall mean products as defined in Article 2(a) of Council Directive 96/25/EC of 29 April 1996 on the circulation of feed materials, amending Directives 70/524/EEC, 74/63/EEC, 82/471/EEC and 93/74/EEC and repealing Directive 77/101/EEC(10);
19. 'compound feedingstuffs' shall mean products as defined in Article 2(b) of Directive 79/373/EEC;
20. 'feed additives' shall mean products as defined in Article 2(a) of Council Directive 70/524/EEC of 23 November 1970 concerning additives in feedingstuffs(11);
21. 'certain products used in animal nutrition' shall mean nutritional products within the scope of Council Directive 82/471/EEC of 30 June 1982 concerning certain products used in animal nutrition;
22. 'organic-production unit/holding/stockfarm' shall mean a unit, holding or stockfarm complying with the rules of this Regulation;
23. 'organically-produced feedingstuffs/feed materials' shall mean feedingstuffs/feed materials produced in accordance with the rules of production laid down in Article 6;
24. 'in-conversion feedingstuffs/feed materials' shall mean feedingstuffs/feed materials complying with the rules of production laid down in Article 6, except for the conversion period where those rules apply for at least one year before the harvest;
25. 'conventional feedingstuffs/feed materials' shall mean feedingstuffs/feed materials not covered by the categories mentioned in paragraphs 23 and 24.";
6. the following subparagraph shall be added to Article 5(3): "(h) the product has been produced without the use of genetically modified organisms and/or any products derived from such organisms.";
7. the following paragraph shall be inserted in Article 5: "3a. By way of derogation from paragraphs 1 to 3, trade marks which bear an indication referred to in Article 2, may continue to be used until 1 July 2006 in the labelling and advertising of products which do not comply with this Regulation provided that:
- registration of the trade mark was applied for before 22 July 1991 - and in Finland, Austria, and Sweden before 1 January 1995 - and is in conformity with the First Council Directive 89/104/EEC of 21 December 1988 to approximate the laws of the Member States relating to trade marks(12), and
- the trade mark is already reproduced with a clear, prominent, and easily readable indication that the products are not produced according to the organic production method as prescribed in this Regulation.";
8. the beginning of Article 5(5) shall read as follows: "5. Crop products labelled or advertised in accordance with paragraphs 1 or 3 may bear indications referring to conversion to the organic production method, provided that:";
9. Article 5(5)(d) shall be replaced by the following: "(d) the product contains only one crop ingredient of agricultural origin.";
10. The following subparagraph shall be added to Article 5(5): "(f) the product has been produced without the use of genetically modified organisms and/or any products derived from such organisms.";
11. The following subparagraph shall be added to Article 5(5a): "(i) the product has been produced without the use of genetically modified organisms and/or any products derived from such organisms.";
12. Article 5(10) shall be replaced by the following: "10. In a product as referred to in Article 1(1), paragraphs (a) and (b), an ingredient obtained according to the rules laid down in Article 6 shall not be present together with the same ingredient not obtained according to those rules.";
13. Article 6(1) shall be replaced by the following: "1. The organic production method implies that for the production of products referred to in Article 1(1)(a) other than seeds and vegetative propagating material:
(a) at least the requirements of Annex I and, where appropriate, the detailed rules relating thereto, must be satisfied;
(b) only products composed of substances mentioned in Annex I or listed in Annex II may be used as plant protection products, fertilisers, soil conditioners, feedingstuffs, feed materials, compound feedingstuffs, feed additives, substances used in animal nutrition under Directive 82/471/EEC, cleaning and disinfecting products for livestock buildings and installations, products for pest and disease control of livestock buildings and installations or for another purpose where such purpose is specified in Annex II in regard to certain products. They may be used only under the specific conditions laid down in Annexes I and II in so far as the corresponding use is authorised in general agriculture in the Member States concerned in accordance with the relevant Community provisions or national provisions in conformity with Community law;
(c) only seed or vegetative propagating material produced by the organic production method referred to in paragraph 2 is used;
(d) genetically modified organisms and/or any product derived from such organisms must not be used, with the exception of veterinary medicinal products.";
14. Article 6(2) shall be replaced by the following: "2. The organic production method implies that for seeds and vegetative reproductive material, the mother plant in the case of seeds and the parent plant(s) in the case of vegetative propagating material have been produced:
(a) without the use of genetically modified organisms and/or any products derived from such organisms, and
(b) in accordance with subparagraphs (a) and (b) of paragraph 1 for at least one generation or, in the case of perennial crops, two growing seasons.";
15. in Article 6(3)(a) and (b) the date "31 December 2000" shall be replaced by "31 December 2003";
16. in Article 6(4) the date 31 December 1999 shall be replaced by 31 December 2002;
17. the introductory sentence of Article 7(1) and subparagraph (a) shall be replaced by the following: "1. Products not authorised at the date of adoption of this Regulation for a purpose indicated in Article 6(1)(b) may be included in Annex II, provided that the following conditions are satisfied:
(a) if they are used for the purpose of plant pest or disease control or for cleaning and disinfecting livestock buildings and installations:
- they are essential for the control of a harmful organism or a particular disease for which other biological, cultural, physical or breeding alternatives are not available, and
- the conditions for their use preclude any direct contact with the seed, the crop, crop products or livestock and livestock products; however, in the case of perennial crops, direct contact may take place, but only outside the growing season of the edible parts (fruits) provided that such application does not indirectly result in the presence of residues of the product in the edible parts, and
- their use does not result in, or contribute to, unacceptable effects on, or contamination of, the environment;"
18. in Article 7, the following paragraph shall be inserted: "1b. With regard to minerals and trace elements used in animal nutrition, additional sources for these products may be included in Annex II provided that they are of natural origin or failing that, synthetic in the same form as natural products."
19. in Article 9(11) the words "of 26 June 1989" shall be deleted.
20. the following paragraph shall be added to Article 9: "12. (a) For livestock meat production Member States shall ensure, without prejudice to the provisions of Annex III, that the inspections relate to all stages of production, slaughter, cutting and any other preparation up to the sale to the consumer to ensure as far as technically possible the traceability of livestock products through the production, processing and any other preparation chain from the unit of production of the livestock until the unit of final packaging and/or labelling. They shall inform the Commission together with the report on supervision referred to in Article 15, on the measures taken and their follow-up.
(b) For other livestock products different from meat, further provisions to ensure, as far as technically possible, traceability will be set out in Annex III.
(c) In any event the measures taken under Article 9 shall ensure that consumers are given guarantees that the products have been produced in accordance with this Regulation.";
21. in Article 11(6)(a) the date "31 December 2002" shall be replaced by "31 December 2005".
22. the following subparagraph shall be added to Article 12: "However, with regard to the rules referred to in Annex I, part B, concerning livestock production, Member States may apply more stringent rules to livestock and livestock products produced within their territory, provided that these rules are in compliance with Community law and do not prohibit or restrict the marketing of other livestock and livestock products that meet the requirements of this Regulation.";
23. Article 13 shall be replaced by the following: "Article 13
The following may be adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 14:
- detailed rules for applying this Regulation;
- amendments to Annexes I to IV, VI, VII and VIII;
- amendments to Annex V in order to define a Community logo to accompany or replace the indication that products are covered by the inspection scheme;
- restrictions and implementation measures for applying the derogation as referred to in Article 6, (1) (d) for veterinary medicinal products;
- implementation measures according to scientific evidence or technical progress to apply the prohibition on the use of GMOs and GMOs derivatives with regard, in particular, to a de minimis threshold for unavoidable contamination which shall not be exceeded.";
24. the following Article shall be added after Article 15: "Article 15a
In respect of the measures set out in this Regulation, particularly those to be implemented by the Commission, with a view to meeting the objectives laid down in Articles 9 and 11 and the technical annexes, the necessary appropriations shall be set aside each year during the budgetary procedure.";
25. Annexes I, II, III and VI shall be amended, and Annexes VII and VIII added, in accordance with the Annex hereto.
Article 2
For the purposes of complying with the conversion periods referred to in Annex I, Sections B and C the period which has elapsed before 24 August 2000 shall be taken into account where the operator can demonstrate to the satisfaction of the inspection authority or body that during that period he was producing in accordance with the national rules in force, or failing that, with private standards accepted or recognised by the Member States.
Article 3
This Regulation shall enter into force on the date of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.
It shall apply from 24 August 2000. However, the prohibitions on the use of genetically modified organisms and their derivatives set out in this Regulation, and in particular the provisions of Article 5(3)(h), (5)(f) and (5a)(i) and Article 6(1)(d) and (2)(a) and Annex I, Section B, paragraph 4.18 of Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91, shall apply forthwith.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
Done at Brussels, 19 July 1999.