One of the main problems identified, however, has been the limited information available to countries regarding best practices and issues to consider in the design of appropriate regulatory frameworks for organic agriculture. Often, beneficiaries of these technical assistance projects wished to know what legislative approaches other countries had taken, and what issues other countries grappled with in drafting their legislation. They were interested in knowing what legal requirements major potential markets, such as the United States, the European Union and Japan, have for organic products.

To fill this information gap, the Development Law Service carried out an initial study on the legal aspects of organic agriculture that will capture and summarise the practical lessons learned in advising countries on organic agriculture legislation. This publication seeks to identify and explain the different legal issues related to organic production, including a comparative analysis of selected public and private legal sources of international relevance, as well as recommendations on the issues to consider in the design of national organic agriculture legislation. It is a first step in unravelling the complex and highly technical issues related to drafting national legislation on organic agriculture, and it is hoped that comments from readers will contribute to refining and enriching the preliminary findings presented in this volume.