• Milk produced by dairy factories can only be marketed domestically
The transition period for milk farms and dairy factories will be extended by two years, while the milk produced by entities undergoing the transition process can only be marketed in Romania, the Ministry of Agriculture announced in a press release to BURSA.
According to this source, the European Commission Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health on 15 September 2009 adopted a decision that extends by two years the moratorium granted to Romanian on the matter of milk farms.
Thus, Romanian farmers have a new deadline for aligning to the EU standards on milk processing (structural modernization) and milk quality (hygiene). According to the Accession Treaty, Romania was granted a transition period until 31 December 2009 to have domestic farmers align to the structural requirements for the farms and the quality requirements for the raw milk.
"Progress has been made in complying with the European requirements, but the Romanian authorities and the European Commission have concluded that it is necessary to extend the period by two additional years," representatives of Romania"s Ministry of Agriculture announced.