WRITTEN QUESTION E-1703/00

by Jonas Sjöstedt (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(29 May 2000)

Subject: Supervisory bodies for organic food

It was a severe setback to Gröna Konsum in Sweden when the EU introduced its regulation making all production of organic food imported into the EU from third countries subject to an EU-approved supervisory body. For non-Member States the situation is difficult as their own supervisory authorities are not approved and organic products from those countries cannot therefore be marketed in the EU as organic food. Of Gröna Konsum's 150 organic products in the summer of 1999, only eight were produced in countries with approved supervisory bodies. The EU's procedures for approving supervisory bodies in non-EU countries are considered to be either too expensive or very bureaucratic. There is now a risk that organic food will become expensive or disappear from shop shelves. Does the Commission not consider that there is justifiable cause for concern in this situation? Has the EU granted the international umbrella organisation IFOAM the right to approve supervisory bodies for organic food?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(27 July 2000)

One of the main objectives of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91 on organic production of agricultural products and indications referring thereto on agricultural products and foodstuffs(1), is to create, and to promote, a market of organic products which is credible for consumers. Only a credible market will permit a constant development of organic production within the Community and also in third countries which export to the Community

In this way, major focus is given in this Regulation to the inspection measures, which consist, on the one hand, of a specific inspection regime within the Community, established by Articles 8, 9, 10 and Annex III. On the other hand, Article 11 provides for a requirement that products from third countries must have been produced under inspection requirements which are accepted as equivalent to those applicable within the Community. These requirements are in line with the Codex Alimentarius guidelines on production and marketing of organically produced products, and, as indicated above, are necessary to ensure that consumer confidence in this market is maintained.

The Regulation provides that the assessment of the equivalency and recognition of inspection bodies in third countries is made either by the Commission on the basis of information submitted by the government of the third country (procedure of Article 11(1)) or by the Member States authorities on the basis of information submitted by the interested importers (procedure of Article 11(6)). The Regulation however leaves to the Commission and Member States authorities the possibility to take into account information in the reports established by the International federation of organic agriculture movements (IFOAM) concerning organic production in certain third countries, when these reports are submitted in the context of the above mentioned procedures.

The imports from third countries are followed in much detail by the Commission and the Member States. It appears that all types of organic products are imported into the Community from some 100 third countries from all parts of the world. The Commission has not the impression that the above mentioned measures have lead to substantial decreases of imports of organic products from third countries.

(1) OJ L 198, 22.7.1991.