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Report from the Bichel Committee - Organic Scenarios for Denmark 8. Legal aspectsThe Sub-committee on Legislation has looked at legal questions concerning a possible restructuring of Danish agriculture for organic production (Sub-committee on Legislation 1999). The conclusions of the sub-committee are presented below. Compulsory conversion is hardly feasible with the present EU rules The first question is whether it would be possible to force through total restructuring of Danish agriculture for organic production by means of national legislation. The sub-committee concludes that it would hardly be possible to do that under the present EU rules. This is primarily because organic production would entail significant restrictions on the use and sale of plant protection products and conventional foodstuffs. Compulsory conversion to organic production would therefore give rise to the same problems as discussed in the sub-committee’s report on reducing the use of pesticides in agriculture (Danish Environmental Protection Agency 1999d). In this connection, WTO law would hardly cause any serious problems beyond those raised by EU law, and there is nothing in the Danish Constitution to prevent compulsory conversion of the kind mentioned. - and importation of non-organic food products cannot be banned The second question concerns a possible ban on the importation of non-organic food producs. The sub-committee finds that Denmark cannot unilaterally ban the importation of non-organic food products on account of the rules of EU law on trade. A "Produced in Denmark" label cannot by introduced by law The third question concerns labelling of food products. EU rules permit the labelling of food products as being organically produced. If Denmark were to implement such a scheme, however, that scheme would need to be open to manufacturers who satisfy the conditions of Regulation No. 2092/92 in other Member States. Something similar applies with respect to WTO. It is not possible to set a general requirement in Danish legislation on the labelling of Danish food products as being produced in Denmark. On the other hand, the agricultural industries can voluntarily establish such a labelling scheme. - and it is hardly likely that a purely Danish subsidisation scheme would be approved The fourth question concerns government subsidisation of organic farming. Current EU rules open the way for subsidies in the form of co-financing of support for organic production, but not for subsidies for compulsory organic production. The rules are at present being revised, but no change is expected on this point. A purely Danish scheme for supporting organic production would require EU approval in pursuance of Articles 92-93 of the European Treaty concerning government subsidies. The sub-committee is of the opinion that it would be difficult to obtain such approval, as this would be a question of subsidisation of an entire industry. The most realistic option would be voluntary conversion – possibly supported by regulation The Sub-committee on Legislation has also considered the actual possibilities of promoting conversion to organic production (total restructuring). As long as the present EU rules remain in force, the most realistic option would be voluntary conversion to organic production – possibly supported by tax regulation. The sub-committee also suggests some initiatives the Danish government could take in an EU context – for example, trying to get subsidisation under the EU’s agricultural schemes made more dependent than at present on the use of organic methods of production.
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