Thirty Certification Bodies Are Approved to Work in Equivalence to EU Regulation

At its meeting on 25-26 October, the EU Standing Committee on Organic Farming (SCOF) voted to accept the procedures and a list of approved certification bodies (CBs). The list includes thirty CBs that have standards and certification deemed equivalent with the EU Regulation.  The system will enter into force on 1 July 2012. The approval is valid until 30 June 2015, and covers specific categories for each CB, but does not cover in-conversion products.

This decision by SCOF is the conclusion of a long process that started several years ago. The process started with CBs submitting applications in 2009 to work in equivalence with the EU

Regulation for certifying products from third countries. The undertaking to compile a list of CBs that are equivalent with the EU Regulation was a significant step forward in making the world of organic certification and trade a bit easier and fairer. In addition the scheme was open to certification bodies throughout the world, making it easier for producers certified by CBs based in Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America to export organic products into the EU.

Of the 73 certification bodies, which were said to have originally applied, 43 were not on the first list. Additionally, not all CBs were approved for every country or every activity that was included in their application. According to the Commission, these remaining applications have not been rejected, but rather they are still in a reconciliation process, and more information is needed to make an equivalence assessment.

With applications accepted every year (the deadline is 31 October each year) there are also new applications in the process, submitted by certification bodies in both 2010 and 2011. This includes an application, which would include the East African Organic Production Standards among the standards recognized as equivalent by the Commission (see related article in this issue).

List of CBs approved for working in equivalence with the EU Regulation

Source:  Adapted from The Organic Standard,  November 2011