Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the case for an optional quality term ‘product of island farming’

Article 32 of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs requires the Commission to present a report to the European Parliament and to the Council, no later than 4 January 2014 and accompanied if necessary by appropriate legislative proposals, on the case for a new term ‘product of island farming’.

Article 32 states that the term can be used only for products:
- intended for human consumption and listed in Annex I to the Treaty; and
- the raw materials of which come from islands; and
- in the case of processed products, processing must take place on islands where this substantially affects the particular characteristics of the final product.

The Commission has taken a range of steps to gain a better understanding of island farming across the Union, consulting Member States and stakeholders and holding discussions in the relevant fora. In June 2013, it organised a two-day workshop on the Products of Island Farming and Food Industries’. These activities and the JRC scientific and policy report drawn up after the workshop have provided essential input to this report.

This report examines the socio-economics and specificities of island farming, reviews existing labelling schemes and reflects on the merits of establishing an optional quality term (OQT) for ‘product of island farming’.

EUR-Lex: COM(2013)888: Follow the progress of this report through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2013:888:FIN

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