The European Union market for Organic products is protected by European Regulations. There are complementary application measures on a regional Belgian level.
There are also national and private specifications which cover areas not covered by European Regulation.
Hot news
- May 2022 – Ukraine – Importers / Exporters – In view of the current difficult situation in Ukraine, Europe has taken additional measures to allow the export of organic products from this country. Until 30 June 2022, an authorised person located in Ukraine of a control authority or a control body which is not equipped with a qualified electronic seal may produce and submit in TRACES the certificate of inspection in electronic format without the application of a qualified electronic seal in box 18 thereof. These transitional provisions can be found in the Regulation (EU) 2022/760.
- May 2022 – The UK is postponing checks on imported food and fresh products from the EU until the end of 2023: This means that the requirement for organic GB COIs from the EU, EEA and Switzerland due to come into force on 1st July 2022 will be postponed to 01/01/2024.
- April 2022 – Reminder of important procedures for importing your products into the EU
Official regulations
Council Regulation (EC) n°2018/848 consolidated version
This regulation will replace basic regulation 834/2007 from 1 January 2022 according to Regulation n°2021/269.
It covers the principles and basic rules for agriculture, preparing foodstuffs and organic animal feed, distribution and imports as well as labelling and controls.
Council Regulation (EC) n° 2021/2325 consolidated version
It covers rules for implementation regarding imports of organic products from third countries.
Brexit: Imports and Exports from 1 January 2021
Situation of Imports and Exports of organic products following Brexit, from 1 January 2021.
You can consult the list of control bodies and/or authorities certified by the European Commission within the European Union.
Wallonia
- Ministerial Orders issued by the Walloon government
- Ministerial Order of the Walloon Government regarding the production and labelling of organic products of 11/02/2010.
- Ministerial Order of the Walloon Government regarding support for organic agriculture of 3/09/2015.
- Ministerial Order of the Walloon Government of 3/09/2015 in modification of the Order of 3/04/2014 regarding the allocation of organic subsidies
- Ministerial Order of the Walloon Government for the approval of the “Catering” organic guarantee specifications of 26/06/2012.
- Ministerial Order of the Walloon Government for the approval of the “Pet food” organic guarantee specifications of 15/04/2015.
SPW notes
- List of slow-growing strains (9/07/2008)
- Procedures for mobile chicken coops (15/04/2019)
- Use of non-organic strawberry plants (6/2/2014)
- Definition of the term “factory farming” for the use of conventional effluents (22/1/2009)
- Regional origin of foods for animals (22/06/2012)
Find information about organic agriculture in Wallonia on the SPW Agriculture site.
Brussels
- Order of the Brussels-Capital Region Government regarding the production and labelling of organic products of 3/12/2009.
- Order of the Brussels-Capital Region Government of 5/06/2013 in approval of the “catering” specifications (Organic Guarantee)
Flanders
Find information about Flemish organic agriculture on the Flemish authorities’ website.
CERTISYS is approved in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (LU-BIO-06) and can help you certify your products
- Grand Duchy Regulation
- Information about organic agriculture in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (in German)
Find out about the official processes and procedures for launching your organic activities in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg here.
Version 7 of the CERTISYS Standard has applied since November 2020.
This standard exposes the objectives and principles, production rules, labelling provisions and control measures for non-EU operators who intend to export products advertised as organic to one of the European Union Member States. Any agricultural product produced, transformed or exported to an EU Member State and certified in accordance with this standard will be considered to be equivalent to the European regulation.
This standard contains two books. Book 1 covers general rules. Book 2 covers specific rules:
- CERTISYS Standard non EU Book 1 – general rules
- CERTISYS Standard non EU Book 2 – specific rules
- Changes to CERTISYS Standard V6 to V7 – summary of the modified elements between versions 6 and 7 of the CERTISYS standard