EU Agriculture Commissioner, Phil Hogan will today meet with his colleagues to defend the Council's wishes to revise the legislation governing organic rules.

Commissioner Hogan said “nobody disputes the fact that the current proposal is unacceptable” and welcomed the Council's support on the reform. He admitted the “current legal framework needs improvement", particularly for provisions related to small-scale producers, rules on enforcement and the high cost of certification.

During yesterday's AgriFish Council meeting, the Dutch delegation said they could not

sign up to a progress report, as the import regime and control systems were not touched on.

The delgations remained split on plans to overhaul controls, between those who wish to keep the current system of once-a-year controls on-site and others who prefer the shift towards tailoring controls to farms with the highest error rates.