News

In the framework of rural development within the rules of the Common Agricultural Policy, the Polish Ministry of Agriculture plans to pay PLZ 500 (approximately CZK 3,000) per cow and PLZ 100 (CZK 600) per pig per month to support animal welfare. In order to qualify for the support, farmers would have to provide farm animals with above-standard farming conditions, such as access to open spaces or large enclosures. The proposed system must first be approved by the Polish Government and subsequently submitted to the European Commission for approval.

Report of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) on dual food quality published on 26/06/2019 on nearly 1400 food products in 19 Member States (BG, HR, CY, CZ, DK, EE, FR, DE, EL, HU, IT, LV, LT, MT, PL, SK, SI, ES and NL) confirmed that food quality varies across the EU. However, according to the results of the report, producers do not sell deliberately products of lower quality only in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, differences also occur in the countries of Western Europe. According to research results, 9% of products across the EU have identical packaging but different compositions, while 22% of products have similar packaging on the front of the products but different compositions. Věra Jourová, Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, stressed that there can be no double standards in the EU single market. According to the EC’s statement, a call for proposals for food product testing was launched on 24/06/2019 with a total budget of EUR 1.26 million, to which various EU consumer entities can apply until 17/10/2019.
More information is available here.

The High Level Forum for a Better Functioning Food Supply Chain, composed of Member State representatives and trade representatives led by the Single Market Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska, calls on the European Commission to review the list of food that will have the obligation to indicate the country of origin on the packaging. Putting the country of origin on the label could have, according to the Forum, a significant impact on the disruption of the single market in the EU due to the preference of domestic products.
Report from the High Level Forum for a Better Functioning Food Supply Chain is available here.

The EU Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed will vote in July on a new wording of the Bee Guidelines document, which will decide on the future of certain active substances used in plant protection products. At the request of the European Commission, the document has been analysed by the European Food Safety Committee (EFSA). Environmental NGOs report that the newly written version of the document presents inadequate protection for bees and other pollinators. They point out that the document would allow the use of the active substance sulfoxaflor (a chemical produced by Corteva company), which the industry classifies as permitted sulfoximines, but environmentalists call it a banned neonicotinoid. The European Commission is concerned that increasing the number of banned plant protection products could lead to large-scale corporate disputes.
Learn more about EFSA analysis here.

Last week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced that Germany will present a strategy for the gradual reduction of glyphosate use by the end of September 2019. According to Merkel, it will be possible to ban the use of the substance immediately if the exclusion process is organized sensibly. Last year, the German Ministry of Environment announced a plan to end the use of glyphosate by the end of 2023. The German industry expressed concerns about these plans because of the need for a longer transitional period for farmers to alternative solutions. Meanwhile, Bayer Company, a manufacturer of Roundup herbicide, is taking steps to reduce the impact of the substance ban as well as the large number of lawsuits.
More information is available here.