REGULATION OF THE ORGANIC SECTOR IN UKRAINE FROM THE STANDPOINT OF IMPLEMENTING NEW EU LEGISLATION

Abstract

Strategic advantages for producers of organic products encompass market, environmental, economic and innovation aspects that increase their competitiveness on domestic and foreign markets. With the beginning of the large-scale invasion, farmers were faced with the lack of opportunity to conduct agricultural activities due to occupation, land mining and destruction of infrastructure. This negatively affected the development of the organic sector, yet it remained important and relevant.

The features and problems of forming the legislation regulating the organic sector’s activities in Ukraine are considered. It is noted that the role of national organic legislation is determined by its impact on the development and support of the organic sector, ensuring the quality of organic products and protection of consumer interests. Using the historical method and the method of regulatory and legal analysis, the process of changing the legislative framework of organic production is studied from the standpoint of harmonizing national legislation with EU legislation, adoption and full implementation of a new law on organic production, which meets the requirements of the no longer valid Regulation (EC) No 834/2007.

It is emphasized that the key changes concerned the introduction of the production process certification, not the product certification; standardizing an effective system of organic production control by delegating the control function by the state to private certification bodies. Thanks to these measures, despite the full-scale invasion, state registers in the field of organic production were created and the first domestic certification organization "Organic Standard" began its work. However, with the adoption of the new Regulation (EU) 2018/848, Ukrainian legislation requires further adaptation to EU organic law. It is determined that the current EU organic legislation includes key innovations related to increased control, simplified certification for small farmers and new rules for the import of organic products. It is in these areas that national legislation should change in order to further approximate European standards.