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Organic farming: organic production and labelling of the products

2010/0364(COD)

The Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development adopted the report drafted by Martin HÄUSLING (Greens/EFA, DE) on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 on organic production and labelling of organic products.

It recommends that the European Parliament’s position adopted at first reading, under the ordinary legislative procedure, should amend the Commission proposal as follows:

Delegated and implementing powers of the Commission: the amendments introduced by the MEPs aim to take into account:

  • the "Common Understanding" on practical arrangements for the use of delegated acts (Article 290 TFUE) to be formally agreed on by the Council and the Parliament;
  • the "Regulation on implementing powers" (Regulation (EC) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and the Council laying down the rules and general principles concerning mechanisms for control by Member States of the Commission's exercise of implementing powers).

The power to adopt the delegated acts is conferred on the Commission subject to certain conditions. The delegation of power shall be conferred on the Commission for a period of five years from the date of entry into force of this Regulation. A delegated act shall enter into force only if no objection has been expressed either by the Parliament or the Council within a period of two months of notification of that act to the European Parliament and the Council. That period shall be extended by two months at the initiative of the European Parliament or the Council.

Withdrawal of recognition: an amendment intends to enable the Commission to urgently withdraw recognition of equivalence from third countries where a serious problem with regard to products labelled as organic is found. The amendment requires that both the standards and the control system must be at fault for the procedure to operate.

Administrative burden: the report stresses that the process of alignment to the Treaty of Lisbon should seek to achieve the aim of simplifying all Union legislation enacted for the sector, with a view to relieving organic farmers of the burden of unnecessary red tape.