Livestock production: organic production of agricultural products, indication on foodstuffs (Regul. 2092/91/EEC)

Recalling that organic agriculture accounted for 1% of all farming production and that, in ten years, the areas farmed in this way had increased tenfold, the rapporteur wanted organic agriculture to be firmly encouraged. She considered that the amendments made resulted in a regulation which was more thorough on controls and more flexible in facilitating conversion from traditional farming to organic agriculture. The amendments should also prevent any competition distortion between Member States. Finally, the rapporteur stressed the importance of the amendment ensuring an improved definition of controls and a ban on genetic manipulation. Commissioner Fischler firstly stated his support for the ban on using genetically modified organisms in production. He felt that the GMO concept should be more clearly defined. He therefore accepted Amendments No 8, 24, 26 and 28. On the other hand, he regarded Amendments Nos 13, 14, 35, 36, 41, 52, 63, 73 and 112 as superfluous given that the ban on GMOs was already mentioned in the recitals and in certain articles. He accepted Amendments Nos 64, 97 and 99. As for the legal basis, the Commissioner defended Article 43 of the Treaty because the regulation was concerned with promoting organic production and not health measures. Furthermore, the provisions on organic crops had been adopted based on Article 43. Mr Fischler was also able to accept other amendments, particularly those on labelling and control (but not until a later stage). As regards the use of an EU logo, the Commission agreed with the idea but considered the deadline of 1 January 1998 to be unrealistic. However, the Commission was firmly against Amendment No 32 which proposed using an administrative logo for products from third countries as the Member States would not be able to permanently control the production standards in third countries. Finally, the Commissioner accepted the following amendments: Nos 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 16, 19 , 22, 27, 34, 47, 48, 49, 55, 56, 60, 62, 66, 67, 69 to 72, 74, 75, 82, 88, 93, 94, 111, 116, 119, 124 and 125 which made technical or wording improvements. He rejected Amendments Nos 1, 4, 12, 15, 17, 18, 25, 33, 38, 40, 41, 46, 51, 54, 57, 61, 65, 77 to 80, 85, 90, 95, 96, 98, 100, 102, 105 to 109, 114, 115, 118 and 120 to 122.