Agriculture
Agriculture
The EU’s common agricultural policy was not included in the negotiation of the EEA Agreement, which means that all policies and laws concerning movement of goods falling within Chapters 1 to 24 of the Harmonised Commodity Description and Coding System do not apply to Iceland unless specifically mentioned. That is done in the agreement’s Annex I, which concerns Sanitary and Phytosanitary issues, as well as in Protocol 3 where processed products from raw agricultural materials are accounted for, for which there is an agreement to pay for transactions inside the EEA with trade subventions, i.e. tariff reductions. Furthermore the negotiating partners commit to continuing their efforts in gradually adding to the liberalisation of agricultural trading.
The Agricultural and Veterinary Representative’s responsibilities are determined by the EEA Agreement and can be categorised as follows:
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Sanitary and Phytosanitary issues
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Animal feed
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Fertiliser
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Propagating material
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Processed agricultural products
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Bilateral tariff agreements between Iceland and the EU
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Food labelling
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Food traceability
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Zoonosis
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Animal welfare: stable space, transportation etc .
The Agricultural and Veterinary Representative handles projects that are linked to the aforementioned fields on behalf of the EFTA and the EU.
These fields are part of the EU’s “Health and Consumer Protection”-Regulation (EC) 178/2002. In these fields, specialist-, working- and standing committees work towards the implementation of, revision of and forming policies that relate to Health and Consumer Protection. The Agricultural and Veterinary Representative’s function is among other things to participate in these committees to take care of Iceland’s interests with rulemaking, which is obligated to implement in the EEA agreement.
The Counsellor for the Ministry of Agriculture is:
Tel: +32 (0)2 238 5000,
direct +32 (0)2 238 5023
Fax: +32 (0)2 230 6938
