The Organic Products Regulations 2001

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations, which apply to England and come into force on 19th March 2001, provide for the continued administration, execution and enforcement of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2092/91 on organic production of agricultural products and indications referring thereto on agricultural products and foodstuffs, and of Commission Regulations supplementing that Regulation. A full list of amendments to Regulation 2092/91 is in Schedule 2 and a full list of the relevant Commission Regulations is in Schedule 1. Regulation 2092/91 has now been amended in particular by Council Regulation (EC) No. 1804/1999, which brings livestock production within the scope of Regulation 2092/91. Although Regulation 1804/1999 entered into force on 24th August 1999, only the prohibitions on the use of genetically modified organisms and their derivatives set out in that Regulation apply from that date. The rest of that Regulation applies from 24th August 2000 (Article 3 of that Regulation refers).

Regulation 3 designates the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food as the inspection authority responsible for the inspection system under Regulation 2092/91, as amended (“the Council Regulation”), and the approval of private inspection bodies. Producers, importers and processors of organic products covered by the Council Regulation are subject to this inspection system. For the purposes of enforcing Articles 9(9) and 10(3) of the Council Regulation (irregularities and infringements of the rules on labelling and production of organic products) the Minister, or the private inspection body as appropriate, must give the relevant local authority the information which the local authority needs to enforce the organic labelling provisions (regulation 3(2)). The Minister is also authorised to act on behalf of the Scottish Ministers in respect of any functions exercisable by them as the authority responsible for the operation of the inspection system, the approval and supervision of inspection bodies and certain other purposes (regulation 3(3)). (Power to enter into corresponding arrangements for such functions to be exercised by him on behalf of the National Assembly for Wales and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development for Northern Ireland is conferred by, respectively, section 41 of the Government of Wales Act 1998 (c. 38) and section 28 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 (c. 47).)

The Regulations impose an additional labelling requirement in respect of organic products in pursuance of Article 5 of the Council Regulation (regulation 4). The code numbers referred to in regulation 4 are contained in the UKROFS Standards for Organic Food Production, published by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. Details of the code numbers are available, free of charge, from Rural and Marine Environment Division, Branch D, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR (telephone [phone]; fax number 020 7238 6148).

Each local authority within its area will enforce regulation 4 and the provisions of the Council Regulation specified in column 1 of Schedule 3 to the Regulations, as read with any supplementary provisions listed in column 2 of that Schedule and, in the case of livestock and livestock products and as permitted by Article 12 of the Council Regulation as amended by Council Regulation (EC) No. 1804/1999, any additional standards for organic livestock and livestock products amongst those set out (which largely duplicate the EC standards) in the UKROFS Standards for Organic Food Production, February 2001 Edition, published by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, (a copy of which can be inspected, during normal office hours, at the address given above) (regulation 6(1)).

The Regulations also—

(a) provide for the payment of contributions to inspection expenses and access to the inspection system (regulation 5);

(b) make provision for offences and penalties (regulation 6(2)) and apply presumptions relating to sale and human consumption (regulation 6(3) and (4));

(c) contain powers of entry for authorised officers of local authorities (regulation 10) and supplementary provisions on enforcement (regulations 7 to 9, and 11 to 13) and protect officers acting in good faith (regulation 14);

(d) revoke the Regulations listed in Schedule 4, in so far as they apply to England, and make consequential amendments (regulation 15).

No regulatory impact assessment has been prepared in respect of these Regulations.