ABSTRACT
Farmers’ associations developed the first standards for organic production in the middle of the last century. The first international standards were published by IFOAM in 1980. The first regulations were passed by some European countries, including Austria and France, in the 1980s. In 1991, the EU passed the organic Regulation 2092/91 and set standards with major implications for international trade; they covered not only production standards, but standards for labeling and inspection as well. Various countries in Europe, Latin America and Asia - including Japan - introduced legislation in the 1990s. In 1999, the Codex Alimentarius approved the first guidelines for organic plant production, which were amended to include livestock production in 2001. In the new millennium, most major economies have established a regulation for organic production, including the Indian National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP), which passed in 2001, the US National Organic Program (NOP) that came into force in 2002, the Chinese legal framework, which was finalized in 2005 and the Canadian legislation that passed at the end of 2006.
