In recent weeks, European organics have returned to the center of political and regulatory debate. The positions emerging on equivalence, simplification, and pesticides point to separate interventions by the European Commission, which share a common temporal context but not the same objectives or tools.
A first front concerns the principle of equivalence in international organic trade. On December 16, 2025, the European Commission presented a proposal for a targeted amendment to Regulation (EU) 2018/848, which also addresses the use of the EU organic logo for products imported from third countries recognized as “equivalent.”
IFOAM-Organics International has expressed strong concern on this point. While acknowledging some positive elements, IFOAM challenges the idea of limiting the use of the EU logo to organic products from equivalent third-country countries, subjecting it to additional requirements yet to be defined. According to the organization, this approach risks weakening the very principle of equivalence—understood as achieving the same objectives and principles even through different rules—and introducing a multi-tiered system in European organics, potentially negatively impacting trade and consumer clarity.
A second goal concerns the technical and administrative simplification of European organic farming, again as part of the revision of Regulation 2018/848 and implementing legislation. In this case, the European Commission’s stated objective is to reduce bureaucratic costs and strengthen the sector’s competitiveness by addressing practical aspects such as outdoor spaces, livestock density, feed, and control procedures.
Keeping eEquivalence, simplification, and pesticide regulation separate is essential to understanding the ongoing debate and avoiding inappropriate overlaps
According to the Commission, the amendments are not intended to reduce standards, particularly regarding animal welfare, but to provide greater clarity and flexibility for operators. The reform is supported by data describing a growing sector, with over 17 million hectares of organic farmland in the EU, a market worth over €45 billion, and estimated administrative savings of approximately €47.8 million per year.
A third, distinct issue concerns the regulation of pesticides and biocontrol and is linked to the ninth “Omnibus” package presented by the European Commission, which does not constitute a revision of the organic regulation. FederBio, Legambiente, and Slow Food have expressed strong criticism of this measure.
The organizations fear that administrative simplification conceals a weakening of the precautionary principle, through the extension of authorizations for synthetic pesticides, the lengthening of tolerance periods for banned substances, and a reduction in the weighting of new scientific evidence in assessments. While acknowledging the need for dedicated procedures for biocontrol products, it is deemed risky to combine this objective with a relaxation of the rules on synthetic chemicals, which conflicts with the objectives of the European Green Deal and the urgent need for an agroecological transition.
Equivalence in international organic trade, technical simplification of organics, and pesticide regulation are therefore three distinct dimensions, arising from the same European political context but referring to different regulatory interventions. Keeping them separate is essential to understanding the ongoing debate and avoiding inappropriate overlaps; considering them together, however, helps grasp the complexity of the phase European organics are undergoing, involving simplification, standards protection, and the coherence of the European Union’s environmental and agricultural policies.
The article Biologico europeo tra equivalenza, semplificazione e pesticidi: tre fronti aperti nel dibattito UE, was originally published in GreenPlanet.
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