The European Commission (EC) published on Tuesday new proposals for a new regulation on organic production and the labelling of organic products.

According to a statement released by the EC, the new proposal puts the concerns of consumer and producer at the heart and seeks to address shortcomings of the current system.

The EC proposes in particular to strengthen and harmonize rules and to reinforce controls by making them risk-based. It also plans to make it easier for small farmers to join organic farming and to simplify the legislation to reduce administrative costs for farmers and improve transparency.

The EU organic market has quadrupled in size over the last 10 years and rules need to be updated.

The proposal, which will now be submitted to the European Parliament and to the Council, builds on the findings of a broad consultation process that started in 2012 and which included a series of hearings with EU and international experts on organic production.