For the first time the European Union and the United States will accept each other's organic certifications. On February 15, 2012, after two years of negotiations, the organic food trade agreement was signed at the BioFach World Organic Trade Fair in Nuremberg, Germany. The deal that will come into effect in June will open up US$50 billion market combined value, and will avoid costly administrative duplication, strengthening the competitiveness of this sector.
The only variation to this agreement was the use of antibiotics between the two countries. In organic production, antibiotics are not allowed in the United States, except to control evasive bacterial infections, while the EU rules only allow their use in the treatment of infected animals. Therefore to be able to trade under this agreement, antibiotics should not be used for any reason, all products must be validated by a certified agent.
Additionally, an organic export certificate will be used for all products shipped under the partnership with the following information: product location, organization that certified the organic product, verification of the disuse of prohibited substances and methodologies, certification that the terms of the partnership were met and allow traded products to be tracked.
The European Commission press release said “The United States and the European Union will continue to have regular discussions and will review each other's programs periodically to verify that the terms of the partnership are being met. The EU and the US will also begin to work on a series of cooperation initiatives to promote organic production and tackle important topics such as animal welfare and other issues. Both programs will share technical information and best practices on an ongoing basis to further enhance the integrity of organic crops and livestock production systems.”
This partnership removes major barriers, especially for small and medium-sized organic producers, promoting organic agriculture and supporting jobs and businesses on a global scale.
Data sources:
http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/organic/files/news/press-releases/IP-12-138_EN.pdf
http://www.freshfruitportal.com/2012/02/16/u-s-and-e-u-sign-historic-organic-food-trade-agreement/