CONSUMER INFORMATION: NEW RULES FOR ORGANIC PRODUCTION AND THE LABELLING ACCORDING TO EC 834/2007

Abstract: The success of organic production, in recent years, is due to the growing interest shown by consumers for products that contain themselves a guarantee for health, safety, environmental protection and that they meet the needs of organoleptic quality. The Reg. EC 2092/91, which governs organic production, is now incomplete and controversial, which led to the need of a revision. This review was initiated in 2004 when the Council and the European Parliament, in the Action Plan for Organic Farming, called on the Commission to review the regulatory framework on agriculture and organic food to make it simpler, more transparent and more consistent. The new EC Regulation 834/2007, which came into force in January 2009, ensures greater transparency and simplicity, clarity of objectives and principles, flexibility and ability to adapt to local conditions, improved control systems, strengthening of the single European market and the removal of barriers to free trade on organic products in the EU. It confirms the general principles of the EC Regulation 2092/91, which outlines techniques and objectives for the development of organic farming, strengthens the chain of controls and states the rules on labeling and branding of organic products. The clear and detailed definition of organic farming, given in the new regulation, enables consumers to recognize organic products more easily and understand the real benefits in terms of environmental and animal welfare. This paper looks into innovations in the new regulation which highlights one of the most controversial such as the extension of the tolerance threshold of 0.9 % of accidental contamination of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and in organic farming just like all food products