What is your organic activity?
Your farm or business is located outside the European Union (EU) or the United States (US).
You produce organic plant products or buy organic agricultural raw materials and process them.
You wish to have your organic products certified according to the rules applied in the EU in order to export them to the European market and/or American market.
CERTISYS has been active in West Africa for many years. Today it is through the international activities of the Ecocert Group, which we are part of, that we would be happy to work with you on the organic certification of your project.
- You are a new customer:
We are no longer accepting new applications for certification. We will forward your application to our colleagues in Burkina Faso. At the bottom of the page you will find useful information about the certification process and the form to fill in to get a quote.
For more information, please contact our colleagues on +226 25 37 44 45 or office.burkinafaso@ecocert.com
- You are an existing customer:
We will of course continue to provide you our services as long as you are under contract with us.
Our customer service department will be happy to answer your questions.
What information is essential for exporting your organic products to the European market?
The European Commission has established a list of organic audit bodies that it recognises as applying production and audit rules equivalent to those applied in the European Union. This list specifies for which countries and for which product categories these audit bodies are recognised. It is published in Regulation (EU) 1235/2008 Annex IV and is regularly updated.
Following Brexit, Great Britain automatically recognised control bodies that are recognised for the purpose of equivalence to EU regulations until 31 December 2022.
These control bodies had to reapply by 29 April 2022 for recognition from 1 January 2023.
CERTISYS did it and will keep you informed of the outcome.
More information : https://www.gov.uk/guidance/importing-and-exporting-organic-food
Ecocert SA is recognised for certification in many countries outside the EU for all unprocessed and processed organic plant products for human consumption.
Organic products imported into the European market must always be accompanied by a batch certificate. You can consult the Regulations in force on this subject (Annex V). CERTISYS® is also recognised by the Swiss Authorities for the audit of exporters of organic products to Switzerland from the same 12 countries.
You can also find here :Reminder of important procedures for importing your products into the EU
It is possible to market wild plants, for example shea, growing spontaneously in natural areas, forests and agricultural areas as organic, provided that:
- These areas have not been treated for a period of at least three years prior to harvest with products other than those authorised for use in organic production
- Harvesting does not affect the stability of the natural habitat or the conservation of species in the area concerned
On the label
The code of the audit body must be mentioned on the label, provided that CERTISYS® is officially recognised as an equivalent body.
The format of the CERTISYS code is as follows: AB-BIO-128
AB should be replaced by the ISO code of the country concerned such as:
- For Burkina Faso: BF-BIO-128
- For Senegal: SN-BIO-128
- For Ghana: GH-BIO-128
- For Mali: ML-BIO-128
Use of the European logo is optional.
The indication of the agricultural origin of the ingredients is linked to the use of the logo. If the logo is used, the words ‘Non-EU agriculture’ must appear below the reference to the audit body in the same visual field as the logo. On commercial documents
The following information is mandatory:
- The category of ‘organic’ products
- The reference to the audit body. E.g.: CERTISYS-BF-BIO-128.
Your info pack to become an organic exporter with Ecocert
Certification standard
- For export to the European Union please see ECOCERT Organic Standard (EOS)
- For export to the United States of America please see National Organic Program (NOP)
Practical guidelines and technical documents:
- For EOS:
-
- EOS certification process
- Guidelines for Growers Group
- Guidelines for Plant production
- Guidelines for Wild harvesting
- Guidelines for Processors, handlers, importers
- Guidelines for Exports to the EU
- Guidelines for Food products and processing rules
- Guidelines for Food Labelling
- Guidelines for Labelling to Export to Europe
- Guidelines for Beekeeping
- For NOP:
Please complete and return the application form to office.burkinafaso@ecocert.com to apply for a quotation.
For more information, please contact Ecocert Burkina Faso +226 25 37 44 45 or office.burkinafaso@ecocert.com.
Your other useful documents as an internatinal organic exporter with Certisys
- My practical guide – International certification (outside the EU) CERTISYS system
- Do you want to certify a “Group of Producers in Third Countries“? We provide you with the documents to help you describe your activity: Commitment to respect the rules of organic production, small-scale producer internal audit questionnaires (Annual of perennial)
- CERTISYS® standard for Organic production in non-EU countries 1/2
- CERTISYS® Standard for Organic Production in Non-EU Countries 2/2
- Reminder of important procedures for importing your products into the EU