On February 15, the European Commission and USDA signed an Equivalency Agreement granting mutual recognition of US and EU organic standards for most food products.

We post the Letter from USDA and the USTR to the European Commission and ask our readers to note the exceptions listed in Appendix 1 and Appendix 2.

We also attach the USDA GAIN Report on the Agreement, the EU Implementing Regulation (Regulation (EU) no. 126/2012, OJ L 41 of 15.2.2012, p. 5), and the Press Release issued by USDA.

The rules for use of the new EU organic logo are available on the Europa website:

http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/organic/eu-policy/logo_en