Scientific Papers Series B Horticulture

Agricultural quality policy has evolved overtime. However, this evolution has taken placeon a piecemeal basis — instrument byinstrument, sector by sector. Combining thevarious instruments into a more coherent wholeand developing the overall policy would help itto deliver even stronger results. This furtherdevelopment must be sufficiently flexible, takeaccount of the private and national schemesthat dominate the market and ensureinnovation. The full picture is shown in Figure1.Schemes can be either ‘certification-type’ or‘labelling-type’. Certification is best when theundertakings made are complex; these areusually laid down in a detailed specificationand checked periodically (e.g. annually), forexample by a certifying body. Labellingmeasures are best for relatively straightforwardclaims that are normally self-declared byproducers and subject to official controls.Both certification and labelling can show that aproduct meets baseline standards. They canalso both be used to indicate value-addingqualities beyond baseline standards — eitherproduct characteristics or farming attributes.Figure 1. Quality and assurance certification schemesand marketing standards (http://ec.eur-lex.europa.eu/.)Consultations on the development ofagricultural product quality policy began in2006 with a stakeholder hearing, followed by aconference in Brussels on 5-6 February 2007(Codex Alimentarius Commission and the UNEconomic Commission for Europe). TheCommission also launched policy reviews of405the schemes for geographical indications foragricultural products and foodstuffs and fortraditional specialities guaranteed. This workculminated in the Green Paper consultation andthe High Level Conference on AgriculturalProduct Quality held in Prague on 12-13March 2009 (Green Paper on agriculturalproduct quality-COM 2008 641).The main messages from stakeholders includedstrong support for the E.U’s main qualityschemes (geographical indications and organicfarming) and marketing standards, but alsocalled for simplification and streamlining.Farmers, producers and consumers urgedgreater use of place of farming labelling. Onthe other hand, processors and retailers warnedthat it can be difficult to track the farmingorigins of ingredients in processed foodstuffs.As a result of these consultations andexamination of the current measures, theCommission has identified three main issues tobe addressed in developing agricultural productquality policy, namely:– Information:to improve communicationbetween farmers, buyers and consumers aboutagricultural product qualities;– Coherence: to increase the coherence of EUagricultural product quality policy instruments;– Complexity: to make it easier for farmers,producers and consumers to use and understandthe various schemes and labelling terms.Agricultural product quality policy shouldcontribute to achievement of the objectives ofthe CAP. In particular, sustainability of farmingsystems should be further enhanced throughquality policy, and the farming attributes ofproducts of such systems should be betterknown and communicated to citizens andconsumers.Against this background, it is proposed todevelop agricultural product quality policythrough a structured approach, comprising:– For certification-type schemes, thedevelopment of guidelines for good functioningof certification schemes, and ensuringcoherence of any new E.U. schemes.– For labelling-type measures, development ofE.U.marketing standards within the singleCommon Market Organisation.In addition, existing EU schemes andmarketing standards should be simplified andclarified wherever possible.