To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what progress is being made to achieve common standards with other EEC countries for organic production systems; and if he will make a statement.

In December last year the European Commission issued a proposal for a Council regulation on organic production. Discussions in the relevant Council working group commenced in January. In the view of Her Majesty's Government, the original draft was unsatisfactory in that it would not have provided adequate protection for consumers and contained features which were operationally impractical. There has, however, been some progress in the discussions and my Department is seeking to ensure that the regulation is compatible with the more fully developed standards set by the United Kingdom register of organic food standards (UKROFS).