WRITTEN QUESTION No. 325/98 by Per GAHRTON to the Commission. Rules on organic farming
C 310/50 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 9. 10. 98 Can the Commission provide me with a list of the Spanish MEPs who attended the meetings held in Spain with EU funds provided under the Prince Programme? Answer given by Mr Oreja on behalf of the Commission (6 April 1998) The Commission is sending the list of main events organised as part of the Information Programme for European Citizens (Prince) direct to the Honourable Member and Parliamentís Secretariat. However, it should point out that in some cases it has not been possible to state which Member(s) took part in these events as requests for Members to attend had, in some cases, to go through the secretariats of the political groups, in accordance with the cooperation procedure in force between the Commission Representation and Parliamentís Office in Spain. (98/C 310/62) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0325/98 by Per Gahrton (V) to the Commission (17 February 1998) Subject: Rules on organic farming The USA is planning to introduce new rules for organic farming which allow irradiation, genetic engineering, factory farming methods etc. which are not normally allowed in Europe in organic production. What does the Commission intend to do to avoid problems in the WTO for those Member States, including Sweden, which wish to maintain stringent standards for the classification of products as organic? Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission (2 april 1998) The Commission will submit, under the arrangements provided under the World trade organisation (WTO) agreement on technical barriers to trade, comments to the United States on their proposed regulation for organic farming. The Community has well developed rules for the production and labelling of organic products. Council Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91 on organic production of agricultural products and indications referring thereto on agricultural products and foodstuffs (1), provides in Article 11 for a regime of equivalence for products imported from third countries. This regime is managed either by the Commission (Article 11. 1) or, as is currently the case for products from the United States, by the Member States (Article 11. 6). The Community requirements provide that before organic products are imported into the Community from a third country, it should be adequately demonstrated that the products were produced in accordance with production standards and inspection arrangements equivalent to those applied to Community production. Similarly, the draft United States regulations on organic farming include provision for equivalence with regard to imports of organic products from other countries into the United States. (1) OJ L 198, 22. 7. 1991