The Fair Trade Movement welcomes the provisional agreement reached today by the Council and the European Parliament on the targeted revision of the EU Organic Regulation. The agreement provides operators and producer organisations with the legal certainty they need.

In particular, the Fair Trade Movement commends the extension of recognition for equivalent organic standards in third countries until 2036. Long-term predictability allows supply chains, and the producers who depend on them, to plan investments and trade relationships with confidence, while supporting the continued stability of the EU organic market.

Group certification is how hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers access organic markets. The Fair Trade Movement stands for eligibility rules that are simple to apply, legally certain and able to keep pace with changing conditions and changing markets.

While still pending revision of the final agreed text, the Fair Trade Movement stands ready to work with the EU institutions to ensure that the revised Article 36 is implemented in a way that maintains workable and inclusive rules for producer groups.

The agreement must now be formally adopted without delay. The Fair Trade Movement calls on the Council and the European Parliament to endorse the agreement and complete formal adoption before the end of 2026. It also calls on the European Commission to ensure that delegated and implementing acts keep certification accessible and proportionate for smallholder producer groups, in the European Union and in third countries.

Get in touch

For more information about our work on the EU Organic Regulation, please contact Virginia Enssle, at enssle@fairtrade-advocacy.org.