BETA

Awaiting Parliament 1st reading / single reading / budget 1st stage



2012/2140(DEC) Special report 9/2012 (2011 discharge): Audit of the control system governing the production, processing, distribution and imports of organic products
Next event: Vote scheduled in committee, 1st reading/single reading 2013/03/18 more...
RoleCommitteeRapporteurShadows
Opinion AGRI
Lead CONT HERCZOG Edit (S&D) AUDY Jean-Pierre (EPP), STAES Bart (Verts/ALE), CZARNECKI Ryszard (NI), SØNDERGAARD Søren Bo (GUE/NGL), ANDREASEN Marta (EFD)
Opinion ENVI
Opinion IMCO
Opinion INTA
Lead committee dossier: CONT/7/10024
Legal Basis RoP 076

Activites

  • 2013/03/18 Vote scheduled in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • 2013/01/10 Amendments tabled in committee
  • 2012/11/23 Committee draft report
  • 2012/09/11 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • 2012/06/26 Non-legislative basic document
    • N7-0081/2012 summary
    • DG {'url': 'http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/budget/', 'title': 'Budget'}, ŠEMETA Algirdas

Documents

  • Non-legislative basic document published: N7-0081/2012
  • Committee draft report: PE497.960
  • Amendments tabled in committee: PE502.245

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)

activities/4/date
Old
2013-02-18T00:00:00
New
2013-03-18T00:00:00
activities/4/date
Old
2013-02-19T00:00:00
New
2013-02-18T00:00:00
procedure/title
Old
Special Report No 9/2012 (2011 discharge): Audit of the control system governing the production, processing, distribution and imports of organic products
New
Special report 9/2012 (2011 discharge): Audit of the control system governing the production, processing, distribution and imports of organic products
activities/3/docs/0/url
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE502.245
activities/4/date
Old
2013-01-21T00:00:00
New
2013-02-19T00:00:00
activities/3
date
2013-01-10T00:00:00
docs
type: Amendments tabled in committee title: PE502.245
body
EP
type
Amendments tabled in committee
activities/3/date
Old
2013-01-22T00:00:00
New
2013-01-21T00:00:00
activities/2/date
Old
2012-06-26T00:00:00
New
2012-11-23T00:00:00
activities/2/docs
  • url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE497.960 type: Committee draft report title: PE497.960
activities/2/type
Old
Date
New
Committee draft report
activities/3
date
2012-11-23T00:00:00
docs
url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE497.960 type: Committee draft report title: PE497.960
body
EP
type
Committee draft report
activities/4
body
EP
date
2013-01-10T00:00:00
type
Deadline Amendments
activities/3/docs/0/url
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE497.960
activities/3
date
2012-11-23T00:00:00
docs
type: Committee draft report title: PE497.960
body
EP
type
Committee draft report
activities/3/type
Old
Vote scheduled in committee, 1st reading/single reading
New
Deadline Amendments
activities/4/date
Old
2012-12-03T00:00:00
New
2013-01-22T00:00:00
activities/4/type
Old
Deadline Amendments
New
Vote scheduled in committee, 1st reading/single reading
activities/3
body
EP
date
2012-11-12T00:00:00
type
Deadline Amendments
activities/3/date
Old
2012-12-06T00:00:00
New
2012-12-03T00:00:00
activities/3/type
Old
EP 1R Committee
New
Deadline Amendments
activities/2/committees/1/date
2012-10-08T00:00:00
activities/2/committees/1/rapporteur
  • group: S&D name: HERCZOG Edit
activities/4
body
EP
date
2012-12-06T00:00:00
type
EP 1R Committee
activities/5/date
Old
2012-12-06T00:00:00
New
2013-01-10T00:00:00
committees/1/date
2012-10-08T00:00:00
committees/1/rapporteur
  • group: S&D name: HERCZOG Edit
activities/1/docs/0/text
  • PURPOSE: to draw up a Special Report (No. 9/2012) of the European Court of Auditors on the control system for organic production.

    CONTENT: organic production is an overall system of farm management and food production that aims at sustainable agriculture, the production of high-quality products and the use of processes that do not harm the environment, human, plant or animal health and animal welfare. The control system for organic products as set out in the EU regulations aims at guaranteeing the production processes but not the organic character of the products themselves. The organic market has rapidly developed and experienced annual growth rates of more than 10% in the last two decades. The European market for organic food amounts to about 20 billion euro annually, representing an estimated 1.5% share of the entire food market.

    The European Court of Auditors’ (ECA) performance audit focuses on the effectiveness of the system for supervising organic production and how the various institutions involved (the EU Commission and the competent Member State authorities, accreditation bodies and control bodies) have fulfilled their responsibilities with regard to both the control system within the EU and the management of the import schemes currently in operation.

    According to the Commission, EU consumers can be sure that when they buy an organic apple or a piece of organic beef from their local supermarket, it has been produced according to strict rules. The control system for organic products, as set out in the EU Regulations, aims at guaranteeing that the production processes conform to organic principles.

    For organic products originating within the EU, Member States must set up a system of checks. Control bodies, which carry out these checks at the level of individual operators (such as producers, processors and importers) are central to this system. Organic products from outside the EU may be recognised as organic, if the production rules and control system applied to them are considered equivalent to those of the EU.

    The Court considers that the shortcomings highlighted by its audit need to be remedied in order to provide sufficient assurance that the system is operating effectively and ensure that consumer confidence is not undermined.

    Conclusions of the Court of Auditors’ audit: in this Special Report (No. 9/2012), the ECA concludes that a number of competent authorities in the Member States do not sufficiently fulfill their supervisory role over control bodies. As a result certain control bodies fail to satisfy a number of EU requirements and fail to take the opportunity to implement certain good practices. The Commission had not audited Member States’ control systems between 2001 and the time of the Court’s audit. Also, the competent authorities in Member States encounter difficulties in ensuring the traceability of organic products within their territories and such traceability is even more difficult to achieve for products that have crossed borders.

    In relation to imported organic products, the system governing the various import schemes was also found to have weaknesses.

    The Court’s recommendations: the ECA has prepared a series of recommendations to the Commission with a view to improving the effectiveness of the current system, in particular in regard to the following points:

    • the competent Member State authorities should strengthen their supervisory role over control bodies;
    • the exchange of information within Member States, between the Member States and the Commission and among the Member States themselves should be improved;
    • checks should be strengthened to ensure that operators (such as producers, processors, importers) fulfil the regulatory requirements regarding traceability;
    • the Commission should strengthen its monitoring of the Member States’ control systems by undertaking audit visits and gathering the necessary data and information and putting it to good use;
    • regarding imports, the Commission should ensure that the countries in the list of those recognised as being equivalent for organic production are adequately supervised.

    The Commission’s replies show broad agreement with the Court's recommendations and indicate its intention to follow them, including specific audits on the control systems for organic production by the Food and Veterinary Office from 2012 onwards.

activities/5
date
2013-01-15T00:00:00
body
EP
type
Indicative plenary sitting date, 1st reading/single reading
activities/2/committees/1/shadows/4/group
Old
ECR
New
NI
committees/1/shadows/4/group
Old
ECR
New
NI
activities
  • body: EP date: 2012-06-26T00:00:00 type: Date
  • date: 2012-06-26T00:00:00 docs: type: Non-legislative basic document published title: N7-0081/2012 type: Non-legislative basic document body: EC commission: DG: url: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/budget/ title: Budget Commissioner: ŠEMETA Algirdas
  • date: 2012-09-11T00:00:00 body: EP type: Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading committees: body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Agriculture and Rural Development committee: AGRI body: EP shadows: group: EPP name: AUDY Jean-Pierre group: Verts/ALE name: STAES Bart group: ECR name: CZARNECKI Ryszard group: GUE/NGL name: SØNDERGAARD Søren Bo group: EFD name: ANDREASEN Marta responsible: True committee_full: Budgetary Control committee: CONT body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Environment, Public Health and Food Safety committee: ENVI body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Internal Market and Consumer Protection committee: IMCO body: EP responsible: False committee_full: International Trade committee: INTA
  • body: EP date: 2012-11-12T00:00:00 type: Deadline Amendments
  • date: 2012-12-06T00:00:00 body: EP type: Vote scheduled in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • date: 2013-01-15T00:00:00 body: EP type: Indicative plenary sitting date, 1st reading/single reading
committees
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Agriculture and Rural Development committee: AGRI
  • body: EP shadows: group: EPP name: AUDY Jean-Pierre group: Verts/ALE name: STAES Bart group: ECR name: CZARNECKI Ryszard group: GUE/NGL name: SØNDERGAARD Søren Bo group: EFD name: ANDREASEN Marta responsible: True committee_full: Budgetary Control committee: CONT
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Environment, Public Health and Food Safety committee: ENVI
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Internal Market and Consumer Protection committee: IMCO
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: International Trade committee: INTA
links
other
  • body: EC dg: url: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/budget/ title: Budget commissioner: ŠEMETA Algirdas
procedure
dossier_of_the_committee
CONT/7/10024
reference
2012/2140(DEC)
title
Special Report No 9/2012 (2011 discharge): Audit of the control system governing the production, processing, distribution and imports of organic products
legal_basis
Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 076
stage_reached
Awaiting Parliament 1st reading / single reading / budget 1st stage
type
DEC - Discharge procedure
subject