New rules to increase consumer trust in organic products and promote growth of this market were informally agreed between European Parliament and Council of the EU negotiators. Among other, the new rules include strict, risk-based controls along the supply chain; imports should comply with EU standards; farmers will be obliged to apply precautionary measures to avoid pesticide contamination. The agreed text now needs to be approved by the European Parliament Agriculture Committee, the Parliament plenary and the Council before it can enter into force. Chemistry plays a fundamental role in defining and controlling thresholds of contaminants in organic food.

Source: http://www.europarl.europa.eu