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having regard to the Commission delegated regulation (C(2023)02781),

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having regard to Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

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having regard to Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 on organic production and labelling of organic products and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 (1), and in particular Article 21(1), Article 30(7), point (a), and Article 54(6) thereof,

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having regard to Rule 111(3) of its Rules of Procedure,

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having regard to the motion for a resolution by the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development,

A.

whereas Regulation (EU) 2018/848 lays down detailed requirements concerning the production of processed food and feed;

B.

whereas salt used for food and feed and drinking water are excluded from those requirements;

C.

whereas the explanatory memorandum of the Commission delegated regulation recognises that salt is not an agricultural product;

D.

whereas the Commission delegated regulation would lay down the only production rules applicable to a mineral;

E.

whereas the Commission is encouraging the use of modern technologies, but for the production of organic labelled rock salt the restrictions in the field of modern mining technologies are stricter than their environmental impact merits, which would make the production of organic table salt from rock salt unattractive and lead to a very limited availability of organic rock salt on the market;

F.

whereas there is no justification for introducing a conversion period of at least six months for rock salt, since the quality of the final product cannot be improved by a conversion period;

G.

whereas the production rules for organic algae and organic aquaculture animals require production to be situated in locations that are not subject to contamination with products or substances not authorised for use in organic production, or with pollutants that would compromise the organic nature of the products; whereas while ponds for algae and aquaculture can be moved, the sea salt production sites are permanently installed, making the implementation of those production rules by sea salt producers extremely difficult;

H.

whereas the requirements envisaged for the production of organic sea salt could lead, particularly due to the prevalence of micro-plastic in sea waters, to a very limited availability of organic sea salt on the market;

I.

whereas the Commission delegated regulation requires contamination-free production concerning products or substances not authorised for use in organic production for all kinds of salt production, which is not required for organic products from farming and which therefore goes clearly beyond, and is not in line with, Regulation (EU) No 2018/848;