EU lawmakers are under pressure to strike a deal on plans to extend organic trade agreements with third countries before they expire, though proposed changes risk complicating talks.

The Commission proposed reopening the EU’s regulation last December to prevent the expiry of agreements with key trade partners such as Canada, the US and Japan on 31 December 2026.

Such deals, which would be extended for 10 years, recognise these countries’ standards and allow their products to bear the EU’s organic label. But a 2024 court ruling challenged such “equivalence” system, prompting the Commission to push additional requirements on organic imports – a move that traders warned could disrupt trade and expose EU exports to retaliatory measures.

The text leaves most of the proposal’s core elements intact, but it notably removes the Commission’s bid to allow the EU organic label on products containing up to 5% ingredients from third countries that do not meet additional criteria.

The presidency text also includes a transition provision for products placed on the EU market a year after the entry into force of the regulation, which may still carry the EU logo until stocks are exhausted.

Meanwhile, it preserves the Commission’s power to add new requirements for imports through secondary legislation.

Parliament’s asks

The Parliament’s lead MEP on the file, Camila Laureti (S&D, Italy), is also proposing to eliminate the 5% margin of tolerance, but otherwise largely agrees with the Commission.

At Tuesday’s meeting of the agriculture committee, the Commission’s agriculture department official Gijs Schilthuis urged MEPs not to go too far with their amendments to the sweeping regulation.

Still, some MEPs are pushing for changes going well beyond the labelling provisions at stake, fuelling fears of potentially complicated negotiations. Many demands include further flexibility for organic livestock farming.

The European People’s Party’s agriculture coordinator, MEP Herbert Dorfmann (Italy), also urged colleagues to stay in line. “I don’t think pushing all our wishes and desires is the way forward,” he said.

Schilthuis refuted suggestions that the decade-long prolongation of the equivalence agreements with third countries is excessive. “We should never negotiate with our back against the wall,” he said.

Shadow rapporteurs will discuss compromise amendments on 21 May, with the committee vote expected in July.

(adm, aw)