Case C-228/23, AFAÏA: Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 4 October 2024 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Conseil d’État – France) – Association AFAÏA v Institut national de l’origine et de la qualité (INAO) (Reference for a preliminary ruling – Agriculture – Organic production and labelling of organic products – Regulation (EU) 2018/848 – Use of certain products and substances in organic production and their listing – Derogation – Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/1165 – Annex II – Concepts of factory farming and landless livestock production – Consumer confidence – Animal welfare – Respect for the environment and the climate – Criteria)
Date: 2024-10-04
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: agricultural holding, agricultural land, animal welfare, environmental protection, livestock farming, organic product








C_202406895EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2024/6895


25.11.2024






Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 4 October 2024 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Conseil d’État – France) – Association AFAÏA v Institut national de l’origine et de la qualité (INAO)


(Case C-228/23,
                (1)
AFAÏA)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Agriculture - Organic production and labelling of organic products - Regulation (EU) 2018/848 - Use of certain products and substances in organic production and their listing - Derogation - Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/1165 - Annex II - Concepts of ‘factory farming’ and ‘landless livestock production’ - Consumer confidence - Animal welfare - Respect for the environment and the climate - Criteria)
(C/2024/6895)
Language of the case: French

Referring court

Conseil d’État

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicant: Association AFAÏA

Defendant: Institut national de l’origine et de la qualité (INAO)

Intervener: Ministre de l’Agriculture et de l’Alimentation

Operative part of the judgment







1.


The third paragraph of Annex II to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/1165 of 15 July 2021 authorising certain products and substances for use in organic production and establishing their lists, adopted for the purpose of implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 on organic production and labelling of organic products and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 834/2007
must be interpreted as meaning that, as regards preparations of micro-organisms which may be used to improve the overall condition of the soil or the availability of nutrients in the soil or the crops, the expression ‘factory farming origin forbidden’, used in the table set out in that annex, does not amount to a prohibition only of preparations from ‘landless’ livestock production, it being specified that, in accordance with that provision, fertilisers, soil conditioners and nutrients the use of which, in organic farming, is prohibited by that annex are those produced from factory farming and not only those from landless livestock production.










2.


The third paragraph of Annex II to Implementing Regulation 2021/1165
must be interpreted as not precluding national legislation under which the prohibition of the use, on organic land, of fertilisers and soil conditioners of animal origin which are of ‘factory farming origin’ also covers manure from livestock raised in integral slatted or grid systems and exceeding the thresholds defined in Annex I to Directive 2011/92/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment, as amended by Directive 2014/52/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014, and manure from livestock raised in cages and exceeding those same thresholds. However, for the purposes of that categorisation, it is necessary to rely on a set of indicia relating, at the very least, to the preservation of animal welfare, respect for biodiversity, and environmental and climate protection.






(1)  
            OJ C 252, 17.7.2023.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/6895/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)