Organic production
Organic production is a production system designed to minimize the human impact on the environment, while ensuring the agricultural system operates as naturally as possible.
Companies wishing to obtain organic certification must comply with the EU Reg. 848/2018, which defines the production, processing, labeling, control and certification system in the European Union. The new regulation applies from January 1, 2022 and replaces the old EC Reg 834/2007.
Organic certification is issued only by certification bodies recognized by the EU.
In some European Union countries, in addition to certification pursuant to UE Reg. 848/2018, customers may request specific voluntary certifications, including AB in France and BIOSUISSE in Switzerland.
Outside the European Union, individual countries have defined their own standards that regulate organic production, for example the NOP / USDA standard in the United States and the JAS in Japan.
Some of these standards have reached an equivalence regime with EU Reg. 848/2018, allowing exports without requiring double certification.
How the certification system works
- The company completes the notification or application (depending on the scheme EU, NOP, JASS, AB, BIOSUISSE etc.)
- Bioagricert sends the company a memorandum of understanding/ contract with the fees relating to the control and certification service
- The company signs the estimate for acceptance and sends it back to Bioagricert
- Bioagricert assigns the company to an inspector who will go on site for the inspection and an evaluator who will review all the company documentation for the purpose of the certification proposal and certification issue. Each company has a reference evaluator to contact.
- Bioagricert schedules the first inspection visit (start-up phase), and the inspector proceeds with the verification in the quarter assigned by the CB and agreeing a date with the company
- The inspector verifies the compliance of the company and of the documentation prepared with the community regulation or other schemes for which the company has requested certification and submits a report to Bioagricert
- The evaluator checks the documents and the results of the start-up phase and the certification body (Certification Committee) decides for the admission of the operator to the organic control system and issues a Certificate (called “CE” by Bioagricert)
- If the company does not comply with the Regulation, it will receive a written communication with detailed reasons
- Bioagricert defines an annual Control Plan based on the type and class of risk assigned to the operator to maintain compliance with the reference standard. The Control Plan may include one or more annual inspections, announced and unannounced inspections and sampling.