Brazil has a significant domestic demand for organic products which has grown in the span of more than 40 years since the beginning of the Brazilian organic movement.
In December 2003, the Brazilian government sanctioned Law 10.0831 which authorized the development of a regulation for organic agriculture. The regulation itself took some time as a broad participatory consultation process developed with active representation of organic farmers, movements, companies, etc. The regulation took into account several alternative approaches, including Participatory Guarantee Systems as well as third party certification. The regulation was promulgated with the Decrete 6323 in December 2007 stipulating in Article 115 a deadline of two years for operators to come into compliance. Since then a series of Norm Instructions (Instrucciones Normativas – IN) specifying aspects of animal and plant production, conformity assessment, etc, have been published. In December 2009, the Decrete 7048, modified Article 115 of the Regulation 6323, extending the deadline for compliance to the regulation for one year more until December 2010. On January 1, 2011 the new regulation for organic production came into force.
What does this mean for organic imports?
IN 19 of year 2009, which covers imports, contains the following requirements:
- Imported organic products can be commercialized in the country only if they comply Brazilian regulation on organic production.
- The admission of imported organic products to the country, will only be permitted if the guarantee of the product is carried out by a conformity assessment body accredited by MAPA (Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Supply), or if the country of origin already has an equivalence agreement of its conformity assessment system with the Brazilian System of Organic Conformity Assessment
- Imported organic products will lose their organic status, if they are subjected to quarantine treatments that are not compatible with the Brazilian organic regulation.
Regarding labeling of imported organic products, controlled either by accredited bodies in Brazil or by equivalence agreements, the label of the products must contain the seal of the Brazilian System of Organic Conformity Assessment (SisOrg). To know more about SisOrg read IN 19 of May 2009 (www.prefiraorganicos.com.br).
Article provided by Patricia Flores Escudero, GOMA Coordinator for Latin America