Description of the EU Regulation requirements and main differences
The EU regulation has no specific article dealing with the issue of contamination, but detailed rules on prevention in the feed processing rules (Annex III, Specific provision, Part E). The new Council regulation (EC) 427/2207 is indirectly dealing with the issue of GMO contamination by stating that “the aim is to have the lowest possible presence of GMO’s in organic products. The existing labelling thresholds represent ceilings which are exclusively linked to the adventitious and technically unavoidable presence of GMO’s.” (Point 10 of the explanatory text).
Prevention of contamination with pesticides is an area of concern in the US NOP and in many private organic standards. Some private standards even address the prevention of contamination with GMO’s (e.g. UK Soil Association).
Several private organic standards cover the aspect of pesticide contamination in a general way, by requiring windbreaks and buffer strips between the fields of the organic farm and its conventional neighbours to reduce the risk of pesticide contamination (US NOP, AT Bio Austria - only for herb production, CZ KEZ, DE Bioland, IT Organic Standards, UK Soil Association), and the AT Governmental Codex regulation even has threshold levels for pesticide residues found in soil analyses.
The issue of soils contaminated with pesticides is covered by four private organic standards (CZ Pro-Bio, DE Bioland, SE KRAV, and UK Soil Association). According to these standards either residue analyses are required in order to start or continue organic production, or the contaminated plots are excluded from production for several years. DE Bioland standards do not provide certification for produce grown on formerly contaminated soils. Heavy metals are hardly mentioned except for the accumulation problems with copper (see chapter 5.3.4).
DIFFERENCES SUBMISSIONS
No. of diff.
Description of main differences Main differences on which level:
Main justification
MAIN AREAS Issues: Int. Nat.gov. Nat. priv.
Contamination 15 Pesticide residues, GMO. = + ++ Principle of Care
* as contamination has not been regulated until now on EU level the submissions have not been referenced to articles of the Regulation (EEC) 2092/91.
Discussion of potential impact and conflict areas Consumers/public perception:
The main motivation of most consumers for buying organic food products is that they consider such products as healthy and without any residues and they expect that these products have not to been treated with any kinds of pesticides (Zanoli R. et al., 2004). The repeated treatment of wine, fruit trees and potatoes etc. with copper compounds may however contaminate the soil with heavy metals in the long run. This has already been dealt with in the EEC/2092/91 as the amount will gradually be reduced by setting an upper cumulative limit for the Cu application per ha. Most private standard setters and also environmental NGOs emphasise the systems approach inherent in organic farming as much more important than soil contamination analyses.
Trade implications:
In areas with intensive production systems where arable land is expensive, the implementation of buffer zones and windbreaks causes additional costs for farmers. The costs for pesticide or soil contamination analysis programmes can also be considerable and create unequal market conditions if some certification schemes or buyers of organic products in some countries require such analyses while others don’t.
Organic Principles:
The organic farming approach is a system of monitoring the quality of the process rather than analysing the quality of the final products – taking into account that the criteria for the production method are well described and no non-approved substances are used during the whole production chain. However, avoiding residues from pesticides, fungal attacks of veterinary treatment that may have negative impact on human health is clearly part of the health principle.
Discussion of harmonisation, simplification and regionalisation potential
DIFFERENCES SUBMISSIONS
No. of diff.
Impact on/conflict with Potentials for
IN MAIN AREAS Cons Trade Org P Harm Simp Reg
Contamination 15 (8) ++ ++ ++ yes no yes
Harmonisation:
Harmonisation is recommended in the field of general provisions to avoid contamination, such as the implementation of buffer zones and windbreaks. This is an issue not covered by the EU Regulation but broadly covered by private standard setters throughout Europe.
Simplification:
The EU does not cover the aspect of contamination. Simplification is therefore not applicable.
Regionalisation:
As contamination with residues, GMO or heavy metals might be caused by specific national/regional circumstances it might be relevant to establish criteria and monitoring systems at national/regional level.
Main conclusion for revision process of Regulation (EEC) 2092/91:
It is recommended to require a plan for buffer zones and wind breaks between organic and conventional farms, public roads etc. at the EU level, where it is relevant to prevent contamination of organic farm land. Such requirements may be supplemented with more specific rules at the regional level. It is not recommended to introduce general monitoring schemes for analysis of residues of various types beyond the monitoring systems already existing for agricultural production and products in general. However, it may be relevant at the national level to establish criteria for monitoring of analyses in cases where problems have been encountered.