PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO EU REGULATION
by Robin Fransella, RF Organic
On 11 May 2026, the Special Committee on Agriculture of the Council of the European Union agreed a text for a proposal for a regulation to amend Regulation (EU) 2018/848[1]. This represents the next step in the realization of the Commission proposal to make certain amendments which was published in December 2025.
Some proposals will be widely regarded as a long-overdue amendment to correct an apparent anomaly (e.g. the removal of a rule requiring chicks to be provided with outdoor access when they are too young to make use of it), others could be seen as a dilution of what differentiates organic production to consumers (e.g. the removal of the current requirement of a minimum 2 day withdrawal period following the use of a veterinary medicine). The latter would also clearly move the European Regulation further away from the non-use of antibiotics required under USDA rules.
The proposal to extend the derogation for the use of non-organic protein feed for porcine and poultry animals could be seen similarly (the need for certain nutrients that have not been readily available in organic feed has been addressed by the US by allowing the use of amino acids in such feed).
This is a relatively lengthy proposal for amendment. Below I have attempted to summarise its contents.
The Council proposes:
That the need in Article 24(g) for cleaning and disinfection products for processing and storage facilities to be listed be removed.
That (following Case C-240/23 Herbaria Kräuterparadies II[2], the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ)) the regulation should be amended to allow use of the word “organic” for products imported from countries whose organic production and control systems have been recognised as equivalent to those of the EU and to allow the EU Organic logo to be used so long as certain additional requirements are met.
Thus in Article 32 and 33 use of the EU organic logo should not be available for use on prepacked products produced within the EU where some ingredients do not comply with these additional requirements (in fact on initial reading the text of the preamble “excluded from that obligation” does not seem to quite reflect the amendment proposed to Article 32).
That in Article 35 retailers selling unpacked or prepacked organic products other than feed direct to consumers may be exempted by Member States from Certification if they sell less than 10,000 kg a year or have an annual turnover of such products of less than EUR 40,000 a year. Further, that operators who sell direct to the final consumer may also hold this exemption with regard to the sale of prepacked organic products sold through their web-shop.
That some additional flexibility be provided under Article 36 for groups of farmers, increasing members annual turnover and standard output of organic production maxima to EUR 50,000 and EUR 30,000 respectively and doubling the currently allowed holding sizes (these figures can be amended in future by the Commission). Greater flexibility of the members legal status is also provided for.
That under Article 48 the recognition of certain countries as equivalent should be extended from 31 December 2026 to 31 December 2036 in order to allow negotiations to continue.
That Article 53 will be amended so that some derogations for the use of non-organic plant reproductive material and non-organic animals, and for the use of a percentage of non-organic protein feed will continue until 31 December 2036.
That from 01 January 2031 the Commission will be able to amend the derogations to use non-organic protein feed for poultry and porcine animals, and to use non-organic aquaculture juveniles; and that by 31 December 2030 the Commission will refer these issues to the Parliament and Council.
The conversion periods for animals are amended so that bovine is still 12 months but no longer ¾ of their lifetime. Quails are now included alongside Peking ducks but with a 5-week conversion, a new minimum age of slaughter for quails of 42 days is proposed in Annex II, II, 1.9.4.1.
The rules for the introduction of adult males at Annex II, II, 1.3.4.4.2 are to be limited to animals that are sexually mature.
The rules on grazing of organic pasturage by non-organic animals at Annex II, II. 1.4.2.1 is amended to allow non-organic animals to graze for a limited period each year, and also to allow contemporaneous grazing by the operator’s organic, in-conversion and non-organic animals when different species are involved in accord with Article 9, para 7 and “provided the animals are adequately separated”.
The minimum 48-hour withdrawal period following use of what the regulation describes as “a chemically synthesized allopathic veterinary medicinal product” is proposed to be removed ; this is usually thought to refer to a non-herbal and non-homeopathic veterinary medication (the term allopathic is not defined in either Regulation (EU) 2018/848 or in Regulation (EU) 2019/6).
At Annex II, II, 1.9.3.1 the rules for feeding porcine animals up to 5% non-organic protein feed are amended to remove the limit to piglets up to 35 kg, to require the use to be limited to specific protein compounds, and to extend the derogation to 31 December 2036.
At Annex II, II, 1.9.4.2 the rules for feeding porcine animals up to 5% non-organic protein feed are amended to remove the limit to use only being for young poultry, to require the use to be limited to specific protein compounds, and to extend the derogation to 31 December 2036.
In order to enable the raising of organic chicks the requirement at Annex II, II 1.9.4.4 to enable continuous daytime open-air access for poultry shall only apply once birds are “sufficiently feathered to regulate their body temperature when exposed to outdoor climatic conditions”…
In order to enable organic poultry businesses to grow, the 1600 M2 limit shall no longer apply at unit level but to the poultry house.
For aquaculture holdings Annex II, III, 3.1.2.1 (e) now requires that the competent authority base their decision on restocking with non-organic juveniles on data collected under the system mentioned at Article 26(2)(c).
There are transitional provisions to enable products in production to continue to be marketed for twelve months after publication of the regulation.
All proposals will need to be considered in more detail, and at present this is a proposal, to be put before Parliament and thus possibly open to change.