The European Commission presented a proposal for a regulation published on 16 July 2025 in the Official Journal, to amend the Common Organisation of Agricultural Markets (CMO) legislation currently in force, in order to introduce a number of strategic measures to strengthen the EU agri- food sector, ensure greater security of supply and food self-sufficiency and increase legal certainty, due to differing interpretations by some Member States on certain sectors, such as hemp. (1)
The proposal also contains a measure to introduce legal designations for certain meat products of animal origin, to accompany the designations provided for dairy products and to mitigate the phenomenon of meat sounding for meat substitutes.
Below are the main points of the reform presented by the Commission, which will have to be followed by debate in the European Parliament and the Council, before possible approval.
Common Market Organisation
The Common Market Organisation (CMO) is the instrument created by the European Union to achieve the objectives of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), as laid down in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). The main aspects it can deal with, excluding any discrimination between producers and consumers in the EU, include
- price regulation;
- production and distribution subsidies for different products;
- systems for stockpiling and carry-over;
- common import or export stabilisation mechanisms.
This reform concerns the CMO for agricultural markets, which is in need of substantial revision in order to ensure the correct uniform application of certain provisions due to uneven interpretations by the Member States, and to improve other existing or deficient provisions.
The CMO for agricultural markets is currently governed not only by the TFEU, which contains the list of agricultural products of interest in Annex I, but also by Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013. It differs from the CMO of fisheries markets, which are otherwise managed by Regulation (EU) No 1379/2013. The legislative intervention is part of a context of revision and rationalisation of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), looking ahead to the period 2028-2034 with the ambitious goal of making agriculture stronger, independent, resilient and sustainable, stabilising the incomes of farmers, including young farmers, who must be incentivised to do so.
Plan for food emergencies
In the context of economic, climatic or geopolitical crises, a legal basis is introduced under this proposal to establish strategic reserves of agricultural products. Reserves must be held by public or private operators designated for military or civil protection use in emergency or crisis situations, including humanitarian interventions or stocks kept available to ensure food security during major supply disruptions.
Under the new provisions, Member States, taking into account their specific risk profiles and institutional arrangements, will be required to establish (and regularly review) national food crisis preparedness and response plans to prevent or mitigate disruptions in the food supply chain.
Furthermore, to support a coordinated approach, the Commission will establish a European Food Security Crisis Preparedness and Response Mechanism (EFSCM), which will bring together and coordinate the competent authorities and organisations of the Member States and, where appropriate, representatives of selected third countries.
Thresholds
Another change concerns the formal elimination of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013, concerning reference thresholds for certain agricultural products, i.e. price levels (also known as ‘threshold prices‘) used as a basis for triggering safeguard measures, such as additional import duties, in the event of market excesses.
These thresholds were intended to protect the internal market from disturbances caused by abnormally low priced imports. However, with the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Case C-113/14, it was ruled that these thresholds, affecting the budget and the organisation of the market, should only have been adopted by the Council, acting on a proposal from the Commission, pursuant to Article 43(3) TFEU. (3)
The procedure followed for their introduction did not comply with this requirement, rendering the article legally invalid. The recent proposal therefore provides for its elimination, bringing the regulation into line with primary Union law.
Checks and compliance
The provisions of the proposed regulation aim to strengthen and clarify the rules on public intervention and private storage aid in the agricultural sector by incorporating new conditions and powers for the Commission. In particular, through delegated acts of the Commission for public intervention, the Commission will supplement Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 with specific rules to determine
- The type of measures eligible for Union funding and their reimbursement conditions;
- The eligibility conditions and calculation methods based on the information observed by the paying agencies, on lump sums determined by the Commission, or on lump sums or non-lump sums provided for in agricultural legislation in specific sectors;
- The criteria for evaluating operations related to public intervention, (e.g. measures to be taken in case of loss or deterioration of products in public intervention and determination of the amounts to be financed)
As well as establishing the requirements for which operators may receive or have payments reduced/cancelled in the event of non-compliance with the conditions for public aid or private storage. The products concerned have been included in the new Annex Ia, which includes various animals, meat products, eggs, certain seeds, plants and roots, cotton and fermented beverages other than wine (e.g. cider, mead).
Outermost regions
Among the various novelties, a section on the ‘outermost regions‘ is also introduced, for which new conditions for the marketing of agricultural products from these regions will be laid down, including the possibility of adopting a specific logo on a proposal from the professional organisations concerned to the Member States and, by extension, to the Commission.
The introduction of the logo would improve awareness and increase consumption of quality agricultural products, whether processed or not, specific to the outermost regions, namely the French overseas departments – Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Réunion and Martinique – and the Azores, Madeira and Canary Islands). In addition, specific provisions will concern the sugar sector in the French outermost regions (POSEI) for which funds will be made available for marketing campaigns.
In this way, the integration into the basic regulation of the provisions laid down in Regulation (EU) No. 228/2013, which contains the specific measures in the agricultural sector in favour of the outermost regions of the Union, is ensured, which concerns the POSEI programme and other rules on imports and exports, specific products such as sugar, skimmed milk powder and rice, production support measures and the logo for quality products of the outermost regions.
The EU school programme
The proposed amendment to the regulation foresees the updating of the EU school scheme within the National and Regional Partnership Plans (NRPs) developed by the Member States, supporting the distribution of selected agricultural products in schools in order to improve children’s eating habits.
The scheme will financially support interventions that meet the eligibility requirements, concerning the provision and distribution of fresh and lightly processed agricultural products in schools (containing less than 10% free sugars and less than 30% fat) and awareness-raising campaigns to reduce the consumption of foods containing added sugar, salt and fat, as well as artificial sweeteners and flavour enhancers (including those indicated by E620 to E650), which will not be allowed in products distributed under the scheme.
Priority will also be given to the distribution of products that are climate-friendly, Km0, from small enterprises, certified according to organic production standards, or meet fair trade production standards. Eligible products are:
- fruit and vegetables listed in Part IX of Annex I;
- processed fruit and vegetables listed in Part X;
- fresh bananas, excluding table bananas, falling within CN code 0803 90;
- drinking milk, cheese, dairy products, yoghurt and other fermented or acidified milk products not containing added flavouring, fruit, nuts or cocoa listed in Part XVI of Annex I.
Protein crops
One of the most significant changes introduced with this proposal concerns the deletion of the entry ‘dried fodder’ among the sectors covered by the Single CMO, which would be replaced by the introduction of a ‘protein crops sector’ under which legumes and other plants with a high protein content cultivated for food or livestock purposes, including dried fodder itself, would be included.
The amendment is part of a strategy to strengthen the strategic autonomy of the protein sector and reduce the EU’s dependence on imports of high-quality proteins, in line with the Green Deal and the ‘Producer to Consumer’ strategy. For this, dedicated marketing standards have been introduced to better inform consumers about the origin of protein crop products.
This change would not only ensure greater traceability and safety of the feed fed to European livestock farms, but would also provide an important incentive for the local production of protein crops, which are currently unattractive to our farmers due to technical difficulties and local market characteristics such as the volatility of supply and demand to the agronomic challenges of their cultivation, which make them a riskier option for farmers. To this end, it will be possible to establish recognised producer or interprofessional organisations in the protein crop sector (unless they are already recognised before for related sectors).
Hemp
The new proposal aims to strengthen the hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) sector, which is very important for the bio-economy and environmental sustainability, as it does not require pesticides, fertilisers and improves soil structure. It is fully covered by the TFEU and the scope of the CMO, for which the whole plant is considered an agricultural product, even beyond the production of fibre, always respecting public health. The latter has been seen as a strategy by several Member States to adopt divergent restrictive measures that are undermining the proper functioning of the CMO, with legal uncertainty that damages the internal market and leads to unfair competition between farmers in the EU.
It is recalled that, following the CJEU’s ruling in case C-663/18, it has been proven that non-psychoactive products such as cannabidiol derived from hemp varieties with a low Δ9- tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content of less than 0.3 % should not be considered narcotic drugs within the meaning of the Conventions on Narcotic and Psychotropic Substances.
It follows that farmers will be able to receive subsidies on the basis of the area cultivated with hemp provided that, in addition to meeting CAP requirements, it is one of the authorised varieties (pending the reform on seeds and varieties – https://www.foodtimes.eu/it/pianeta/scambio-dei-semi-tra-i-contadini-la-riforma-ue/) under Directive 2002/57/EC and Directive 2008/62/EC for conservation varieties. The following products can be grown and marketed in the EU, subject to the above conditions: (4)
Production
- raw true hemp falling within CN code 5302
- hemp seeds for sowing falling within CN code ex 1207 99 20;
- hemp seeds other than for sowing, falling within CN code 1207 99 91;
- all other parts of the hemp plant falling within CN code 1211 90 86.
Cultivation
- true raw true hemp falling within CN code 5302, grown from a variety of Cannabis Sativa L. registered in the Common Catalogue of Varieties of Agricultural Plant Species containing a maximum Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol content not exceeding 0,3 %;
- hemp seeds for sowing falling within CN code ex 1207 99 20 of a variety of Cannabis Sativa L. registered in the Common catalogue of varieties of agricultural plant species, containing a maximum Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol content not exceeding 0,3
- all other parts of the hemp plant falling within CN code 1211 90 86, of a variety of Cannabis Sativa L. registered in the Common Catalogue of Varieties of Agricultural Plant Species containing a maximum Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol content not exceeding 0,3 %.
Legal definition of meat products
The purpose of the proposed regulation is to introduce specific legal provisions to protect terms relating to meat and meat products. In particular, Annex VII is amended to introduce a definition of ‘meat‘ and ‘meat products‘, in line with Regulation (EC) No 853/2004, laying down minimum requirements and legal designations for labelling and marketing, counteracting the misuse of designations that are considered traditional.
The purpose of the amendment is to avoid the phenomenon of ‘meat sounding, i.e. the use of terminology that refers to products of animal origin in relation to similar ones of plant origin, in order to improve transparency in the internal market and allow consumers to make informed choices regarding the composition of the food purchased and its nutritional content.
The designations concern animal names (e.g. beef, pork, chicken), animal cuts (e.g. tenderloin, shoulder, wing, leg, breast) and processed products (e.g. bacon). The term ‘meat’ and the listed names may also be used in combination with one or more other words to designate composite products of which no part replaces or is intended to replace any meat constituent and of which meat is an essential part both in terms of quantity and for characterising the product.
Conclusions
The proposal for a regulation amending the CMO in agricultural markets represents a strategic reform that broadens its scope, strengthens its regulatory coherence and introduces more agile tools to meet the new challenges of European agriculture.
An integrated approach that improves funding for healthy school nutrition to food security, from the valorisation of local production to the strengthening of protein chains, the text aims to modernise the CAP and make it more resilient, sustainable and autonomous.
The completion of the legislative process will be crucial in assessing its effectiveness, but it is already clear that this is a fundamental step on the path to renewing the Union’s agricultural regulatory framework. Although an interesting challenge will be to achieve these objectives with a downwardly compromised budget.
Desirée Muscas and Andrea Adelmo Della Penna
Notes
(1) Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 as regards the school fruit, vegetables and milk scheme (‘EU school scheme’), sectoral interventions, the creation of a protein sector, requirements for hemp, the possibility for marketing standards for cheese, protein crops and meat, application of additional import duties, rules on the availability of supplies in time of emergencies and severe crises and securities (COM/2025/553 final). https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:52025PC0553
(2) See Articles 38 to 44 TFEU, in particular Article 40.
(3) Case C-113/14: Judgment of the Court (Fifth Chamber) of 7 September 2016 – Federal Republic of Germany v European Parliament, Council of the European Union (Action for annulment – Choice of legal basis – Article 43(2) TFEU or Article 43(3) TFEU – Common organisation of the markets in agricultural products – Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 – Article 7 – Regulation (EU) No 1370/2013 – Article 2 – Price setting measures – Reference thresholds – Intervention prices). https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/IT/TXT/?uri=CELEX:62014CA0113
(4) Cultivated products that do not comply with the requirements may be produced on the territory of Member States that allow it for their territory and under the conditions they lay down. On the other hand, marketing may be waived for such non-compliant products for use for medical and scientific purposes. In both cases, compliance with EU, international and national law must be ensured.
Esperta LCA, laureata in Sviluppo Rurale Sostenibile, PhD in Ingegneria Civile e Ambientale
Graduated in Food Technologies and Biotechnologies, qualified food technologist, he follows the research and development area. With particular regard to European research projects (in Horizon 2020, PRIMA) where the FARE division of WIISE Srl, a benefit company, participates.
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