The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced today (June 4) that organic products certified in the US or European Union may now be sold as organic in either market, as trade opened up on Friday, June 1, under a new US-EU equivalency partnership.
Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan signed formal letters creating the partnership in February, along with Dacian Ciolos, European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, and Ambassador Isi Siddiqui, US Trade Representative Chief Agricultural Negotiator.
“This partnership will open new markets for American farmers and ranchers, create more opportunities for small businesses, and result in good jobs for Americans who grow, package, ship, and market organic products,” said Merrigan. “In the months ahead, USDA will continue to work hard to expand opportunities for all US products, including organics.
"Equivalency arrangements such as this are critical to growing the US organics industry. They require careful negotiation to ensure that we maintain existing US trade policies while ensuring that US agricultural products will compete on a level playing field in world markets.”
The US signed a similar partnership with Canada in July 2009, and additional equivalency arrangement conversations have begun with South Korea, Taiwan and Japan.
Previously, producers and companies wanting to trade products on both sides of the Atlantic had to obtain separate certifications to two standards, which resulted in a double set of fees, inspections, and paperwork.
The partnership existing now eliminates these significant barriers, which is especially helpful for small and medium-sized organic farmers. During negotiations, both parties conducted thorough on-site audits to ensure that their programmes’ regulations, quality control measures, certification requirements, and labeling practices were compatible.
“This agreement provides economic opportunities for certified organic farmers as well as additional incentives for prospective farmers,” said Miles McEvoy, US National Organic Program deputy administrator. “We look forward to working with our European Union counterparts to support organic agriculture.”
Although there are slight differences between the US and European Union organic standards, both parties individually determined that their programmes were equivalent, thereby allowing the agreement that opened up trade today. The exception has to do with prohibition on the use of antibiotics. USDA organic regulations prohibit the use of antibiotics except to control invasive bacterial infections (fire blight) in organic apple and pear orchards. The European Union organic regulations allow antibiotics only to treat infected animals. For all products traded under this partnership, certifying agents must verify that antibiotics are not used for any reason.
The US and the European Union will continue to have regular discussions and review each other's programmes periodically to verify that the terms of the partnership are being met.
The arrangement covers products exported from and certified in the US or the European Union only. All products traded under the partnership must be shipped with an organic import certificate, which shows the location where production occurred, identifies the organisation that certified the organic product, and verifies that growers and handlers did not use prohibited substances and methods.
In addition to certifying that the terms of the partnership were met, the certificates also allow traded products to be tracked. Both parties are committed to ensuring that products traded under the agreement retain their organic integrity from farm to market. The European Commission's Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development and the USDA National Organic Program, which oversees all US organic products, will take on key oversight roles.
Estimates show the market for US organics sales to the EU could grow substantially within the first few years of this arrangement. Today, more than two-thirds of US consumers buy organic products at least occasionally, and 28 per cent buy organic products weekly.
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