EU imports of organic products from Norway and Iceland to resume

Summary:

Decision by the EEA Joint Committee to incorporate relevant regulations into the agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA) so to allow organic products from Norway and Iceland to be again imported to the European Union (EU) and duly marketed as abiding by the EU's organic rules.

Further information:

This decision - adopted on 17 March 2017 at a meeting of the EEA Joint Committee - brings to an end an 8-year delay during which organic products from those two countries were complying with outdated rules no longer applying within the European Union.

The EU first adopted rules on organic production and labelling in 1991 and later updated them in 2007, in many cases with stricter rules. Additional protection rules were introduced in 2009, and all these rules became compulsory to producers in the European Union from January 2015. The delay in the incorporation of the regulations into the EEA Agreement created a situation of unfair treatment of producers and operators. This delay was due to outstanding requests for derogations on certain technical points, which were withdrawn before this decision was made.

Official

EEA: Press Release, 17/03/2017: EEA Joint Committee adopts legal package on organic production https://www.efta.int/EEA/news/EEA-Joint-Committee-adopts-legal-package-organic-production-502491

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