§ Mr. Harrisasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if any progress has been made in the development of production standards for organic produce; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe chairman of Food from Britain has informed me that his council has now agreed to establish on a voluntary basis a United Kingdom register of organic food standards (UKROFS). The tasks will be (i) to set production standards for organic produce tied to a United Kingdom organic logo and a voluntary code of production practice; (ii) to consider applications from organic sector bodies to check that their standards meet such minimum standards and are supported by adequate626W inspection arrangements; (iii) to establish a register of individual organic producers whereby registration provides a right to use the logo; (iv) to arrange for adequate monitoring of inspection arrangements and for the inspection of the farms of those producers not linked to a recognised organic sector body.
It is intended that UKROFS would be supervised on behalf of FFB by a board to be appointed by the council and that the operation should be largely self-funding and will not absorb any FFB funds. Detailed plans will now be drawn up by FFB in discussion with officials and a further announcement will be made later.
On behalf of Agriculture Ministers I should like to welcome this important development which, it is intended, will extend to the whole of the United Kingdom. We hope that domestic producers will seize the opportunities now being offered by the increased consumer demand for organic produce. For some time it has been recognised that the establishment of production standards for such produce was a key factor in such a development. I understand that the proposals now agreed by the FFB council in broad outline are likely to be consistent with proposals on organic production currently being developed by the EC Commission. It is our hope that these will lead eventually to the mutual recognition of national arrangements not only between member states but also involving third countries.