From tomorrow onwards the import of organic products from Iceland and Norway will be allowed again, including organically farmed Norwegian salmon. The goods are allowed to be exported from Norway and Iceland to the member coutries of the EU in accordance with regulations about the production of organic food.
Until now the EU legislation falling in the scope of the EEA Agreement wasn’t directly applicable in Norway and Iceland. The only EU Regulation on organic production that had been so far incorporated to the EEA Agreement is Council Regulation (EEC) No 2092/1991, which didn’t cover organic aquaculture. The rules on organic aquaculture were laid down in Council Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 and Commission Regulation (EC) No 889/2008. These Regulations had not been incorporated to the EEA Agreement because Norway and Iceland are making their incorporation conditional upon a number of derogations to the production rules, in particular on organic livestock production.
According to a EU announcement this is a long awaited decision, and with it, an eight year delay is over during which organic producers in Norway and Iceland operated under dated regulations, no longer applicable in the EU. Import of organic salmon from the EEC, produced and verified in accordance with the regulations of the EU can resume from 18 Mars onward.