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On January 30, 2007, Britain’s foremost organic certification organization, the Soil Association declared that it might deny endorsement of air freighted organic foodstuffs.
 
The Soil Association’s director Patrick Holden told Reuters, ” We thought of imposing the ban as its possibility was very strong.”

Organic providers fear that a projected ban on licensing air freighted organic imports could greatly risk both the industry and revenue of global producers. However, it won’t contribute much towards stopping the changing climate pattern.

Expressing anxiety about the ecological effects of aviation, the association stated at the close of it’s yearly conference on February 3, 2007, that it was debating on a decision, which could affect African growers of organic produces.

However, some dealers assert that the decision would damage companies in developing nations, which airfreight their spoilable products.

The Soil Association licenses above 70 percent of the organic products sold in the U.K. The prohibition could affect organizations like Blue Skies, which airlifts newly gleaned organic pineapples from Ghana to its clientele containing Waitrose, the UK retail merchant.

Anthony Pile, chairman of Blue Skies, who heads the Soil Association’s ethical standards panel, held that validation was crucial for the organization to spread out its business globally.

He stated: “We will struggle to hold on to our organic business for the benefit of our cultivators, their homes and their communities in the poverty-stricken regions of Ghana. Our modern plant in Ghana has additional production capacity of organic goods and we have bought land for production of organic produces directly”.

“In my opinion if the Soil Association thinks that norms must be brought up for general welfare then it is obliged to take action notwithstanding the possibility of suffering a loss,” Holden said.

He appended that the projected ban could cripple the boost in production resulting in savings and therefore the prospects of selecting more cost-efficient means of conveyance.

U.K.’s dairymen have been fighting to meet the rising demand for organic milk, supposedly due to reports praising its health benefits.

“In case the market growth is as fast as the present one, there are bound to be shortfalls,” Holden asserted.

According to AFX News Ltd news on January 24, 2007, the EC (European Commission) has allegedly opened a probe into the plans of Denmark of revising its flat-rate tonnage-based tax system for shipping companies.

The Danes authorities want to omit a condition for shipping companies gaining from the tax system to give financial information of their deals with their overseas affiliates.

However, the EC was of the view that the change could contradict one of the control steps related to the system – monitoring of the commercial dealings between shipping companies under this tax scheme and their affiliates.

Denmark had brought in the tonnage tax system for shipping companies for this field of business, which substituted the normal tax regime in 2002. The tonnage taxation system of Denmark is completely based on the total tonnage operated by a shipowner. This implies that profits and losses, which may be experienced in the given taxation period, has no effect on taxation. The tax system is approved by the EU Commission.

The abuse-prevention steps required by the EC for all the tonnage tax systems within the European Community are necessary to guarantee that these agreeable taxation steps remain applicable to maritime transport.

Only a limited number of shipping companies can use the tonnage taxation system. These companies include those registered in Denmark, all companies with management in Denmark provided that the company is legally accountable for company taxation in Denmark and EU shipping companies with a permanent base in Denmark. Hence, shipping companies could be taxed on the basis of normal income taxation or total actual tonnage they manage.

The Commission stated that the offer shouldn’t affect the support level to shipping companies in Denmark or the impact of the system on state budget.

But the Danish Commission said, “The change could negate one of the control measures aimed at monitoring commercial transactions between the shipping companies and their subsidiaries” as reported by AFX News Ltd.

Therefore, it was decided to start a official investigation process, with an aim to take the view of any concerned third party, like tax officials in other constituent states.