Civil dialogue group about plant protection products & imports 

On 24 May, the European Commission held a Civil Dialogue Group (CDG) on organic farming. While the many stakeholder present contributed to a diverse presentation of market and policy topics, regulation-related questions are a must-have for this CDG’s agenda. This time discussions focused on plant protection products and imports.  

On plant protection products (PPPs), the European Federation of Honey Packers and Distributors (F.E.E.D.M.) presented a study on sources of phosphonic acid. On behalf of IFOAM Organics Europe, Friedhelm von Mering (BöLW) presented the benefits of organic farming regarding pesticides, focusing on biocontrol. Henri Delanghe, Deputy Head of the Organic Unit at the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development (DG AGRI) shared information on the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)’s technical report on non-authorised substances in organic products.  

We are in the homestretch of starting a new era in organic imports is based on compliance. The organic sector follows this entire process closely, so the Commission’s information session and stakeholder presentations were followed with great interest. We understood that, from the 52 re-applicant certification bodies (CBs), the first 20 have already been assessed. The Commission acknowledges the need for a certain transition period that can be granted in the form of a derogation included in a delegated act amending Regulation (EU) 2021/1698.  

Our members can read a more detailed debrief about this CGDs on organic farming, PPPs, organic imports and the next steps in assessing control bodies in our member extranet news item. 

If you have trouble accessing our member extranet, please:  

1. Check that you are not using the extranet in a browser that is already logged in to another SharePoint environment (or use a private browser to login); 
2. Check our extranet login guidelines, including an overview of possible problems and solutions. 

If that does not work, please reach out to [email protected], including the email address you are using to login and a screenshot of the error message.  

Information for IFOAM Organics Europe’s members 

IFOAM Organics Europe advises and discusses policy options with the Commission and other stakeholders at meetings of the Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development (DG AGRI)’s Civil Dialogue Groups (CDG). As a member, you can read the key points of the recent CDG meetings on our civil dialogue groups extranet space and get access to debriefs, minutes and other documents of the CDG meetings.