Monitorul Oficial al Romaniei, Part I, no. 194/5 April 2013 has published Resolution No 131 / 2013, regarding measures and sanctions required for the observance of the relevant European legislation.
The Resolution provides the institutional framework for the establishment of contraventions and the application of sanctions in the organic agricultural sector. Thus, starting the date of entry into force of this legislative act, the following shall be deemed infringements of the relevant law:
a) fraudulent use of the word “ecologic”, “biologic”, “organic” or of the abbreviations “bio” and “eco” in trademarks or user guide/instructions for the production, processing, packaging, transportation, storage and distribution of products, on product labels, in advertisements and promotional materials and commercial documents included, which may mislead consumers and are not obtained in compliance with the rules laid down in the European legislation regarding organic production;
b) operators’ failure to comply with the rules concerning the production, processing, packaging, transportation, storage, distribution and importation of organic products, as provided by Council Regulation (EC) no. 834/2007 of 28 June 2007 on organic production and labelling of organic products and repealing Regulation (EEC) no. 2092/91;
c) lack of operator’s documents, i.e. compulsory information whereby the traceability of product may be identified at all production, processing and distribution stages, as stipulated by Commission Regulation (EC) no. 889/2008 of 5 September 2008 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) no. 834/2007 of 28 June 2007 on organic production and labelling of organic products with regard to organic production, labelling and control.
The abovementioned infringements shall be subject to the provisions of Government Ordinance no. 2/2008, regarding the legal framework for infringements, as approved by the Law no. 180/2002, as amended and supplemented. The infringements referred to at:
- letter a) above shall be punished with a fine ranging from RON 20,000 to RON 30,000 and the administrative measure of temporary cessation of marketing activities in respect of such products until the identified deficiencies are remedied;
- letter b) shall be punished with a fine ranging between RON 10,000 and RON 20,000;
- letter c) shall be punished with a fine ranging from RON 25,000 to RON 35,000.
The Resolution provides that, being fact-finding agents, the staff having duties of technical inspection in the organic agricultural sector, employed by the county and Bucharest city agricultural departments, shall be fully empowered to apply the aforesaid sanctions.
These provisions shall come into force 30 days after the date of their publication in Monitorul Oficial al Romaniei, i.e. on 5 May 2013.
This Resolution is underlain by the provisions contained in:
- Council Regulation (EC) no. 834/2007 of 28 June 2007 on organic production and labelling of organic products and repealing Regulation (EEC) no. 2092/91;
- Commission Regulation (EC) no. 889/2008 of 5 September 2008 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) no. 834/2007 of 28 June 2007 on organic production and labelling of organic products with regard to organic production, labelling and control;
- Regulation (EC) no. 882/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on official controls performed to ensure the verification of compliance with feed and food law, animal health and animal welfare rules
LEGAL ALERT by Duncea, Stefanescu & Associates / MAZARS
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