New EU rules for ‘Organic Wine’ agreed
New EU rules for “organic wine” have been
published in the Official Journal on 8 of march 2012. With the new regulation (EC) N° 203/2012, which will apply from the 2012 harvest, organic wine growers will be allowed to use the term “organic wine” on their labels. The labels must also show the EU-organic-logo and the code number of their certifier, and must respect other wine labelling rules. Although there are already rules for “wine made from organic grapes”, these do not cover wine-making practices, i.e. the whole process from grape to wine. Wine is the one remaining sector not fully covered by the EU rules on organic farming standards under Regulation (EC) N° 834/2007. The new rules have the advantage of improved transparency and better consumer recognition. They will not only help to facilitate the internal market, but also to strengthen the position of EU organic wines at international level, since many other wine producing countries (USA, Chile, Australia, South Africa) have already established standards for organic wines. With this piece of legislation, the EU organic farming is now complete and covers all agricultural products.
(21.03.2012/ ky, ih)
IMO: First in line with ASC
IMO is proud to announce that we are the first certification body worldwide to have been granted accreditation to audit operations in the ASC supply chain and issue ASC COC certificates.
IMO is now able to offer ASC COC audits and certification services worldwide for all steps in the supply chain of ASC certified products. We can also combine the ASC COC audit with all other major aquaculture and fisheries standards.
ASC is the acronym for
Aquaculture Stewardship Council
and was founded in 2009 by WWF and IDH (Dutch Sustainable Trade Initiative) to manage the global standards for responsible aquaculture. The ASC will be the world's leading certification and labelling programme for responsibly farmed seafood.
For more information or to request an ASC COC application form, please contact us at
aqua@imo.ch.
(24.02.2012/ kib,ih)
Breaking News: NOP - EU Equivalency
On February 15, 2012, an equivalency agreement between Europe and the US (NOP) was signed: From June 1, 2012 onwards, organic products certified in Europe or in the United States may be sold as organic in either region – with few small limitations.
The agreement is supposed to promote organic agriculture and facilitate trade of organic products enormously. This historic moment took place at BioFach in Nuremberg.
(20.02.2012/jp, loh)