June 28, 2017 New rules to increase consumer trust in organic foodstuffs and unleash the sectors potential for growth were informally agreed with Council negotiators on Wednesday.

To increase consumers trust:

Four years after entry into force of this regulation, the Commission would report back on the efficiency of the EU anti-contamination rules and national thresholds and, if need be, come up with a draft law to harmonise them.

To boost EU organic food production:

Rapporteur and chief EP negotiator Martin Husling (Greens/EFA, DE) will hold a press conference on Thursday at 09:30 on the outcome of the negotiations (Anna Politkovskaya room PHS 0A50).

More detailed information about the content of the deal are available in the background note.

After 20 months of negotiations we have managed to reach an agreement, which will help organic sector grow and will increase consumers trust in organic foodstuffs. It was a laborious task but I believe new rules will bring benefits to both EU consumers and organic farmers, said Martin Husling.

Next steps

The agreed text now needs to be approved by the Agriculture Committee, the Parliament and the Council before it can enter into force. It shall apply from 1 July 2020.

Procedure: Ordinary legislative procedure (co-decision), 1st reading agreement

Type of the document: Regulation

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Organic food: new rules for EU label agreed - YubaNet