Organic food products originating from non-EC countries
may be imported and marketed in the EC with an organic label if it
is accepted that the products are produced and certified according
to procedures equivalent to those of the EC. In practice, two
options provide authorization to export organic products to the EC:
1) When a third country has established and implemented organic
standards, it may apply to the European Commission for inclusion
into the EC List of Article 11. Known as the Article 11 list,
countries on this list can export products certified by an approved
domestic certification body to the EC without the need for
additional certification or accreditation. Note that this is valid
only if the domestic certification body is specifically registered
in the Article 11 list. Each consignment should be accompanied by a
document certifying that standards and certification measures are
equivalent to those applicable in the EC. 2) If the exporting
country is not on the Article 11 list, the exporter should ask its
importer in the EC country to apply for an individual permit for
import. An individual EC member state may authorize an importer to
import products from a country not on the Article 11 list. Under
this provision, the importer should apply to the designated
authorities in the EC member country for an import permission and
the application should be accompanied by documentation on the
equivalence of standards and control measures. The producer and the
exporter will have to be certified in accordance with EC
procedures, which has to be done in co-operation with an accredited
certification body. Import permits are issued for a certain amount
of specific products from specified countries. They are valid for
defined periods. They are granted to specific importers and valid
only for those importers for import entry into those importers'
country. Once imported into an EC member country, the products may
be marketed freely within the EC. In general, the criteria for
granting the import permit are shifting away from evaluation at the
production level towards approval of the certification
arrangements, including the certification bodies. In order to
ensure equivalence in the effectiveness of inspection and
certification measures, third-country certification bodies must
satisfy the requirements of standards EN 45011 or ISO/IEC Guide
65:1996. See the section on standards and regulations on this web
page. |