BRUSSELS - Organic farmers across the European Union will soon have to move away from national labels for their produce and clearly inform consumers that it comes from the EU, a draft law on organic farming said on Wednesday.
While the European Commission, author of the draft, would like to encourage greater use of an EU organic logo that it launched in 2004, it would still allow farmers the freedom to use other labels provided they include the words "EU-organic".
At present, producers have difficulty selling organic food in different EU countries as there is a patchwork of national and private logos which can be costly and complicated to obtain.
The draft, to be discussed by agriculture ministers next year, requires that at least 95 percent of the final product must be organically produced to be labelled as such.
Products containing genetically modified (GMO) material may not be labelled as organic, except for those with up to 0.9 GMO percent through accidental or unavoidable contamination. This is in line with current EU law on biotech food and feed thresholds.
The International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) welcomed the Commission's draft law but voiced concern that it failed to address the thorny issue of liability in cases where GMO material is detected in organic crops.
"It is welcome news that the EU organic label will not be made obligatory, allowing full space for private labels," IFOAM said in a statement.
"An existing legal loophole will be closed so that products labelled as containing GMOs can never be called organic. However, not addressing here the issue of liability in case of GMO contamination is a continuing concern," it said. Separating GMO, traditional and organic crops, known as coexistence, is a problem that EU has yet to get to grips with.
Several EU states, particularly those like Austria and Luxembourg that consistently vote against new authorisations of GMO products, want hard-and-fast EU legislation in this area.
Although Europe saw its organic farming area jump by nearly 70 percent in the late 1990s, this growth rate has now slowed down in several countries where it has reached a plateau.
In the EU-25, the amount of organic farmland is around 5.7 million hectares, or some 3.5 percent of its total agricultural area, and around 175,000 farms are now run organically.
Germany has Europe's largest organic market at just over $3 billion, with fruit and vegetables as its top revenue earners.
Britain, Italy and France also have important markets, where there have been high growth rates in recent years. Britain, for example, is home to Europe's largest organic fruit market.
But the average market share for organic products in the EU remains small at around two percent, with some exceptions such as vegetables at between five and 10 percent.
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
