Council Regulation (EC) No 1804/1999 of 19 July 1999 supplementing Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91 on organic production of agricultural products and indications referring thereto on agricultural products and foodstuffs to include livestock production

1999R1804 — EN — 24.08.1999 — 000.001

This document is meant purely as a documentation tool and the institutions do not assume any liability for its contents

Corrected by:

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 1804/1999

of 19 July 1999

supplementing Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91 on organic production of agricultural products and indications referring thereto on agricultural products and foodstuffs to include livestock production

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 37 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1),

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (2),

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (3),

Whereas:

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91 is hereby amended as follows:

• 1.Article 1 shall be replaced by the following: ‘Article 1

(a)unprocessed agricultural crop products; also livestock and unprocessed livestock products, to the extent that principles of production and specific inspection rules for them are introduced in Annexes I and III; (b)processed agricultural crop and livestock products intended for human consumption prepared essentially from one or more ingredients of plant and/or animal origin; (c)feedingstuffs, compound feedingstuffs and feed materials not covered under subparagraph (a) as from the entry into force of this Regulation referred to in paragraph 3.

Pending the adoption of the Regulation referred to in the first subparagraph for the products mentioned in paragraph (1)(c), national rules in conformity with Community law or, in the absence thereof, private standards accepted or recognised by the Member States shall apply.’ ;

• 2.Article 2 shall be replaced by the following: ‘Article 2 For the purpose of this Regulation, a product shall be regarded as bearing indications referring to the organic production method, where, in the labelling, advertising material or commercial documents, such a product, its ingredients or feed materials are described by the indication in use in each Member State, suggesting to the purchaser that the product, its ingredients or feed materials have been obtained in accordance with the rules of production laid down in Article 6 and in particular the following terms or their usual derivatives (such as bio, eco etc.) or diminutives, alone or combined, unless such terms are not applied to agricultural products in foodstuffs or feedingstuffs or clearly have no connection with the method of production: — in Spanish : ecológico, — in Danish : økologisk, — in German : ökologisch, biologisch, — in Greek : βιολογικό, — in English : organic, — in French : biologique, — in Italian : biologico, — in Dutch : biologisch, — in Portuguese : biológico, — in Finnish : luonnonmukainen, — in Swedish : ekologisk.’ ;

• 3.Article 3 shall be replaced by the following: ‘Article 3 This Regulation shall apply without prejudice to other Community provisions or national provisions, in conformity with Community law, concerning products specified in Article 1, such as provisions governing the production, preparation, marketing, labelling and inspection, including legislation in foodstuffs and animal nutrition.’ ;

• 4.The definition ‘preparation’ in Article 4(3) shall be replaced by the following: ‘3)  “preparation”shall mean the operations of preserving and/or processing of agricultural products (including slaughter and cutting for livestock products), and also packaging and/or alterations made to the labelling concerning the presentation of the organic production method of the fresh, preserved and/or processed products;’

• 5.The following definitions shall be added to Article 4: ‘11. “livestock production”shall mean the production of domestic or domesticated terrestrial animals (including insects) and aquatic species farmed in fresh, salt or brackish water. The products of hunting and fishing of wild animals shall not be considered as organic production;

;

• 6.the following subparagraph shall be added to Article 5(3): ‘(h)the product has been produced without the use of genetically modified organisms and/or any products derived from such organisms.’ ;

• 7.the following paragraph shall be inserted in Article 5: ‘3a.  By way of derogation from paragraphs 1 to 3, trade marks which bear an indication referred to in Article 2, may continue to be used until 1 July 2006 in the labelling and advertising of products which do not comply with this Regulation provided that: —registration of the trade mark was applied for before 22 July 1991 — and in Finland, Austria, and Sweden before 1 January 1995 — and is in conformity with the First Council Directive 89/104/EEC of 21 December 1988 to approximate the laws of the Member States relating to trade marks (12), and —the trade mark is already reproduced with a clear, prominent, and easily readable indication that the products are not produced according to the organic production method as prescribed in this Regulation.’ ;

• 8.the beginning of Article 5(5) shall read as follows: ‘5.  Crop products labelled or advertised in accordance with paragraphs 1 or 3 may bear indications referring to conversion to the organic production method, provided that:’ ;

• 9.Article 5(5)(d) shall be replaced by the following: ‘(d)the product contains only one crop ingredient of agricultural origin.’ ;

• 10.The following subparagraph shall be added to Article 5(5): ‘(f)the product has been produced without the use of genetically modified organisms and/or any products derived from such organisms.’ ;

• 11.The following subparagraph shall be added to Article 5(5a): ‘(i)the product has been produced without the use of genetically modified organisms and/or any products derived from such organisms.’ ;

• 12.Article 5(10) shall be replaced by the following: ‘10.  In a product as referred to in Article 1(1), paragraphs (a) and (b), an ingredient obtained according to the rules laid down in Article 6 shall not be present together with the same ingredient not obtained according to those rules.’ ;

• 13.Article 6(1) shall be replaced by the following: ‘1.  The organic production method implies that for the production of products referred to in Article 1(1)(a) other than seeds and vegetative propagating material: (a)at least the requirements of Annex I and, where appropriate, the detailed rules relating thereto, must be satisfied; (b)only products composed of substances mentioned in Annex I or listed in Annex II may be used as plant protection products, fertilisers, soil conditioners, feedingstuffs, feed materials, compound feedingstuffs, feed additives, substances used in animal nutrition under Directive 82/471/EEC, cleaning and disinfecting products for livestock buildings and installations, products for pest and disease control of livestock buildings and installations or for another purpose where such purpose is specified in Annex II in regard to certain products. They may be used only under the specific conditions laid down in Annexes I and II in so far as the corresponding use is authorised in general agriculture in the Member States concerned in accordance with the relevant Community provisions or national provisions in conformity with Community law; (c)only seed or vegetative propagating material produced by the organic production method referred to in paragraph 2 is used; (d)genetically modified organisms and/or any product derived from such organisms must not be used, with the exception of veterinary medicinal products.’ ;

• 14.Article 6(2) shall be replaced by the following: ‘2.  The organic production method implies that for seeds and vegetative reproductive material, the mother plant in the case of seeds and the parent plant(s) in the case of vegetative propagating material have been produced: (a)without the use of genetically modified organisms and/or any products derived from such organisms, and (b)in accordance with subparagraphs (a) and (b) of paragraph 1 for at least one generation or, in the case of perennial crops, two growing seasons.’ ;

• 15.in Article 6(3)(a) and (b) the date ‘31 December 2000’ shall be replaced by ‘31 December 2003’;

• 16.in Article 6(4) the date 31 December 1999 shall be replaced by 31 December 2002;

• 17.the introductory sentence of Article 7(1) and subparagraph (a) shall be replaced by the following: ‘1.  Products not authorised at the date of adoption of this Regulation for a purpose indicated in Article 6(1)(b) may be included in Annex II, provided that the following conditions are satisfied: (a)if they are used for the purpose of plant pest or disease control or for cleaning and disinfecting livestock buildings and installations: —they are essential for the control of a harmful organism or a particular disease for which other biological, cultural, physical or breeding alternatives are not available, and —the conditions for their use preclude any direct contact with the seed, the crop, crop products or livestock and livestock products; however, in the case of perennial crops, direct contact may take place, but only outside the growing season of the edible parts (fruits) provided that such application does not indirectly result in the presence of residues of the product in the edible parts, and —their use does not result in, or contribute to, unacceptable effects on, or contamination of, the environment;’

• 18.in Article 7, the following paragraph shall be inserted: ‘1b.  With regard to minerals and trace elements used in animal nutrition, additional sources for these products may be included in Annex II provided that they are of natural origin or failing that, synthetic in the same form as natural products.’

• 19.in Article 9(11) the words ‘of 26 June 1989’ shall be deleted.

• 20.the following paragraph shall be added to Article 9: ‘12.  (a)For livestock meat production Member States shall ensure, without prejudice to the provisions of Annex III, that the inspections relate to all stages of production, slaughter, cutting and any other preparation up to the sale to the consumer to ensure as far as technically possible the traceability of livestock products through the production, processing and any other preparation chain from the unit of production of the livestock until the unit of final packaging and/or labelling. They shall inform the Commission together with the report on supervision referred to in Article 15, on the measures taken and their follow-up. (b)For other livestock products different from meat, further provisions to ensure, as far as technically possible, traceability will be set out in Annex III. (c)In any event the measures taken under Article 9 shall ensure that consumers are given guarantees that the products have been produced in accordance with this Regulation.’ ;

• 21.in Article 11(6)(a) the date ‘31 December 2002’ shall be replaced by ‘31 December 2005’.

• 22.the following subparagraph shall be added to Article 12: ‘However, with regard to the rules referred to in Annex I, part B, concerning livestock production, Member States may apply more stringent rules to livestock and livestock products produced within their territory, provided that these rules are in compliance with Community law and do not prohibit or restrict the marketing of other livestock and livestock products that meet the requirements of this Regulation.’;

• 23.Article 13 shall be replaced by the following: ‘Article 13 The following may be adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 14: —detailed rules for applying this Regulation; —amendments to Annexes I to IV, VI, VII and VIII; —amendments to Annex V in order to define a Community logo to accompany or replace the indication that products are covered by the inspection scheme; —restrictions and implementation measures for applying the derogation as referred to in Article 6, (1) (d) for veterinary medicinal products; —implementation measures according to scientific evidence or technical progress to apply the prohibition on the use of GMOs and GMOs derivatives with regard, in particular, to a de minimis threshold for unavoidable contamination which shall not be exceeded.’ ;

• 24.the following Article shall be added after Article 15: ‘Article 15a In respect of the measures set out in this Regulation, particularly those to be implemented by the Commission, with a view to meeting the objectives laid down in Articles 9 and 11 and the technical annexes, the necessary appropriations shall be set aside each year during the budgetary procedure.’ ;

• 25.Annexes I, II, III and VI shall be amended, and Annexes VII and VIII added, in accordance with the Annex hereto.

Article 2

For the purposes of complying with the conversion periods referred to in Annex I, Sections B and C the period which has elapsed before 24 August 2000 shall be taken into account where the operator can demonstrate to the satisfaction of the inspection authority or body that during that period he was producing in accordance with the national rules in force, or failing that, with private standards accepted or recognised by the Member States.

Article 3

This Regulation shall enter into force on the date of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

It shall apply from 24 August 2000. However, the prohibitions on the use of genetically modified organisms and their derivatives set out in this Regulation, and in particular the provisions of Article 5(3)(h), (5)(f) and (5a)(i) and Article 6(1)(d) and (2)(a) and Annex I, Section B, paragraph 4.18 of Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91, shall apply forthwith.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

ANNEX