European policy

The main stimulus for the preparation of the European Action Plan came from the "Organic Food and Farming - Towards Partnership and Action in Europe" conference held in Denmark in May 2001. There has been steady progress since that time on its development and its meeting in Salzburg in November 2003, the European Conference on Rural Development stressed the key aim of strengthening the competitiveness of the farming sector through diversification, innovation and value added products, taking into account the diversity of agricultural potential in different rural areas.
A European Hearing on Organic Food and Farming (Towards a European action plan on organic food and farming) was convened in Brussels on 22 January 2004 and was one of the last steps in the process in developing the plan.
The main topics to be developed in the European Action Plan are:

Beneficial aspects of organic farming.
Need to maintain equilibrium between supply and demand of organic production. Monitoring the evolution of the system and collection of the necessary statistical data.
Potential actions to develop consumers' awareness of the specificities of the organic products through information and promotion campaigns on this production method and the EU logo.
Public support already available for this method of production, in particular by the application of the subsidiarity principle by the Member States in the framework of the existing Rural Development measures.
Import/export: Evaluation and improvement of trade mechanisms based on equivalency between our system and those in force in third countries in terms of production standards and inspections.
Further development of standards.
Co-existence of organic and conventional farming as regards GMOs.
Development of research.

Current policy and legislation can be accessed on the EC website:-

The Scottish Government