Council Conclusions on food quality policy stress consumer interests and producer competitiveness

The Council Conclusions on agricultural product quality policy drafted by the Presidency and unanimously approved by the EU Ministers in Luxembourg on Monday tackle a number of issue – proposals to set out a general rule for marketing standards, to meet the information needs of consumers and producers alike, to simplify quality policy, develop a unified set of guidelines for product certification, clarify and simplify the EU systems of protected indications, to strengthen the role of quality protection at international level as well as to develop a unified organic logo. As one of the Presidency priorities, the revision of this EU policy was discussed at a high-level expert conference in March. The Conclusions also build on the output from the public debate launched by the corresponding Green Paper, published by the Commission in October 2008.

During the debate, the Member States stressed that the importance of quality policy will continue to grow. “A well-designed quality policy gives European producers a competitive advantage. It is also crucial for regional development and the preservation of regional particularities, and helps protect the market against third-country products of poor quality”, said Czech Agriculture Minister Šebesta, adding that “the EU quality policy keeps consumers informed and provides guarantees ensuring that in exchange for their money consumers will get food that is not only safe but also in compliance with certain generally comprehensible criteria.” The Member States believe that quality policy can only be efficient if it is linked to an efficient system of control and if it takes account of the interests of producers as well as consumers.

“The message is that quality clearly opens the way towards long-term competitiveness and higher added value of European agricultural production”, said First Deputy Minister Ivo Hlaváč. “This compromise is of major significance, underlining the importance of existing quality policy schemes and the need to further strengthen them, particularly in the field of geographic indications and organic farming”.

The compromise includes mainly the following items:

• The commitment of the Council to improve communication with farmers, wholesalers and consumers on the quality of EU agricultural products and the high level of farming requirements and to explore the possibility of place-of-farming labelling
• The requirement to streamline administrative procedures related to the registration process of geographic indications and to improve the promotion of this system
• The need to strengthen the protection of registered products as regards third countries
• The need to improve the “traditional specialities guaranteed” scheme.

Tereza Dvorácková
Spokeswoman of the Ministry of Agriculture