The European Commission has launched a public consultation on the future of the EU regime for fruit and vegetables.

The responses will feed into a Commission report on the regime next May which will look at the 2007 reform, with proposals for further changes if necessary, which would apply from 2014. To stimulate responses, the Commission has published a consultation paper and now invites comments and suggestions from consumers, producers, distributors, and official authorities. The deadline for contributions is 9 September 2012.

This paper raises a range of issues, including: Strengthening competitiveness, in terms of productivity and capacity of finding new outlets for products; Improving resilience of the sector, in terms of ability of producers to adapt and react to unexpected developments and market crises; Ensuring Production sustainability and resource efficiency; Increasing the share of value added for producers in the fruit and vegetables supply chain, for instance by improving the bargaining power of producers; Raising consumption of fruit and vegetables (fresh and processed); Controlling EU budget expenditure; Simplifying management of the EU regime in the fruit and vegetables sector.

Next year’s report will also look at how the sector has responded to the 2007, for example the extent to which participation in producer organisations has increased. EU Commissioner for Agriculture & Rural Development Dacian Cioloș stated today: "While the ongoing CAP reform debate refers to the horizontal policy framework covering all farmers across the EU, we must not neglect our sectoral rules as these provide additional rules and mechanisms for a particular sector which complement the horizontal framework. And this report is a good opportunity to consider where improvements can be made." For more information, and to participate in the consultation, see the following site: http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/fruit-and-vegetables/policy/consultation/index_en.htm