New organic EU logo postponed

Kreuzer in Organic Market - info 26th of March 2008: The new organic EU logo which should be implemented beginning with the 1st of January 2009 will be postponed. This is the information Organic-Market.Info got from Mr Michael Mann from the EU Commission. The statement says: "The European Commission is fully committed to promoting and encouraging the organic food sector in the European Union. Part of this process is an EU-funded promotion programme for organic food and the development of a new EU logo for all organic products. The Commission has decided to launch a promotion programme this summer." "As part of this programme, we will launch a competition, open to all EU citizens, to design a new logo. This will replace the draft logo which has recently been circulated", it says. To allow sufficient time for a suitable logo to be selected, the Commission will ask the Council to delay by one year (to 2010) the date on which the EU logo becomes compulsory. The reason for the withdrawal of the proposed logo was a big German discounter. "Aldi did contact the Commission to say it felt there was a similarity between the proposed EU logo and its own private logo", Mr. Mann wrote... STILL THE NEW ORGANIC STANDARD-REGULATION IS EXPECTED TO COME IN FORCE 1. Jan 2009