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Alberto Alemanno (January 13, 2009) Regulating Organic Farming in the European Union - Balancing Consumer Preferences and Free Movement Imperatives

Paper, European Consumer Law Journal, Vol. 1, 2009
HEC Paris - Law Department

Document:

Abstract
The European Union, being one of the first jurisdictions in the world to have implemented a policy on organic farming, is emerging as a regulatory policy leader in this area. After realizing that consumers were willing to pay higher prices for products obtained using organic methods, the European Union made an attempt to define both production and marketing rules for these products in order to ensure conditions of fair competition among organic producers.

This paper discusses the evolving European legal framework for organic food and examines the extent to which this framework meets its actual declared goal of responding to consumer demand for organic products, by contributing inter alia to the protection of the environment, biodiversity, animal welfare and rural development.

Keywords: European Law, Food Law, Food safety, organic food, Environmental law, Biodiversity, Animal Welfare, Rural Development, European Court of Justice

Relevance to our study:
This paper provides the willingness to pay and the reason for regulating organic products. The Regulations are therefore primary a consumer protection and anti-fraud measures to ensure that consumers can buy organic produce confident in the know that it has been produced to certain standards, whatever the country from which they originate. Also concerns with sustainable development of the rural areas.

Relevancy on a scale from 1 to 5 = 3

Review status:
Review started on 2009–07–08
Reviewed by

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