Agriculture and rural development

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EU marketing standards for agricultural products

Summary
Evaluation
Commission Proposal
Legal Act
Implementation

Overall state of play:

Commission proposal ongoing: to be adopted by the Commission in 2023
Evaluation – Finalised: SWD(2020) 230, 20.10.2020

State of play, main conclusions, outlook

The Commission is carrying out an impact assessment for the revision of EU marketing standards to take into account sustainability concerns¹, following an evaluation finalised in 2020 that included an analysis of the coherence between the various pieces of legislation and the potential for simplification. The purpose of the latter was to inter alia determine whether the EU marketing standards for agricultural products fulfilled their objectives.

Based on the findings of the impact assessment, the Commission will consider the revision of EU marketing standards for agricultural products. Other than the possible consideration of sustainability in line with the Farm to Fork Strategy², the other drivers for undertaking a legislative reform are the need to modernise outdated standards, simplification and alignment with the Lisbon Treaty.

REFIT Platform

The REFIT Platform considered the possible simplification of the EU regulatory framework on marketing standards for fresh fruit and vegetables and recommended that the Commission undertakes an evaluation to identify options for the future. Some members of the Government group recommended that the Commission examines the possibility of repeal, while several members considered that the standards should be maintained. Other Member States supported a review and simplification of the marketing standards.

¹https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/12772-Agricultural-products-revision-of-EU-marketing-standards_en

²https://ec.europa.eu/food/sites/food/files/safety/docs/f2f_action-plan_2020_strategy-info_en.pdf

State of Play:

Finalised, SWD(2020) 230, 20.10.2020

Scope:

Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 establishing a common organisation of the markets in agricultural products and repealing Council Regulations (EEC) No 922/72, (EEC) No 234/79, (EC) No 1037/2001 and (EC) No 1234/2007, and the “Breakfast” Council directives 2001/110/EC, 2001/112/EC and 2001/113/EC.

Evaluation findings:

The evaluation analysed to what extent EU marketing standards for food products were enabling the EU to achieve the objectives set and if they were useful and sufficient in this sense for the stakeholders (producers, processors, traders, retailers, consumers, Member State administrations).

The evaluation is limited in that it only covered marketing standards adopted since the entry into force of the current common market organisation (2014), unless otherwise specified. Also, the level of detail of the analysis is uneven across sectors, making it difficult to establish general conclusions on marketing standards. This is due to the wide range of sectors analysed, the greater reliance on qualitative, rather than quantitative, sources and the lack of reliable data.

The evaluation concluded that EU marketing standards have generally been effective in achieving their intended objectives, without causing significant unintended/unexpected effects.

Although neither costs nor benefits are fully quantifiable, the majority of the business associations and operators consulted across all sectors, as well as Member States, considered the costs of EU marketing standards to be justifiable and proportionate to the benefits achieved.

State of Play

Ongoing, to be adopted in 2023

Which objective(s) does the Commission pursue?

To address concerns of the Farm to Fork strategy, an inception impact assessment was published in January 2021³, a public consultation was carried out in June to August 2021⁴, an expert workshop was organised by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) in September 2021⁵, and a literature review on the topic by the JRC was published in December 2021⁶. The Commission is working on a legislative proposal planned to be adopted in 2023.

The aim of the Commission’s proposal is to modernise and update EU marketing standards for agricultural products, including aligning with Treaty of Lisbon rules (‘lisbonisation’) and simplifying the marketing standards, addressing new needs of stakeholders in the marketing standards, and including sustainability concerns in the marketing standards.

³ https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/12772-Revision-of-EU-marketing-standards-for-agricultural-products_en

⁴ https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/12772-Revision-of-EU-marketing-standards-for-agricultural-products/public-consultation_en

⁵ https://doi.org/10.2760/635080

⁶ https://doi.org/10.2760/991707