The Legal Foundations of Organic Agriculture as a Means of Security of Public Health

Abstract

Background: The decisive role in the process of organic agriculture and organic food production belongs to legal regulation. This article sets out the relevance of the study of the issues of legal provision of organic agriculture as a means of maintaining public health, both nationally and internationally. Having this in mind, the aim of the article is to find ways to solve medical and legal problems of public health by forming an effective legal mechanism for organic agriculture at both national and international levels. Methods: The methodological basis for the study of legal support of organic agriculture are general and special methods of scientific knowledge: dialectical, analysis and synthesis, synergism, historical and legal, formal-logical, system-structural, comparative-legal, formal- legal, and statistical. The empirical materials for the article were theoretical developments of representatives of legal and economic science, international legal acts (the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, United Nations, Codex Alimentarius), legislation of Ukraine (Law of Ukraine ‘On basic principles and requirements for organic production, circulation and labelling of organic products’ (2018)), acts from the UN (Commission Regulation (EC) 889/2008 with provisions on the implementation of Council Regulation (EU) No. 834/2007 on organic production, labeling of organic products and control, Council Regulation (EC) No. 834/2007 of 28 June 2007 on organic production and labeling of organic products), acts from the USA (Organic Foods Production Act, OFPA (1990)), and documentation from other states that regulate public relations in the field of legal support of organic agriculture and analyse UN, WHO, FAO, and IFOAM Statistics. Results and Conclusions: The need to address medical and legal issues of public health requires a joint effort of the world community in the development and creation of unified legal foundations for organic production and universal standards for organic agricultural products, as well as the introduction of an effective international legal mechanism for legal support of organic agriculture, stimulating its development and promoting a healthy lifestyle and organic foods.

Keywords

• organic agriculture
• organic products
• legal support
• alternative form of agricultural production
• organic farming