G/TBT/N/CHE/243  
13 February 2020  
(20-1152) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original:  English  
 
  NOTIFICATION  
The following notification is being circulated in accordance with Article 10.6  
 
1. Notifying Member:  SWITZERLAND   
If applicable, name of local government involved (Article 3.2 and 7.2):   
2. Agency responsible:  Federal Office for Agriculture FOAG  
Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers , email and website 
addresses, if available) of agency or authority designated to handle comments 
regarding the notification shall be indicated if different from above:   
State  Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO  
Holzikofenweg 36, 3003 Bern  
tbt@seco.admin.ch , www.seco.admin.ch  
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [X], 2.10.1 [   ], 5.6.2 [   ], 5.7.1 [   ], other :  
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff 
heading. ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable):  Organic 
products  
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:  Amendments to:  
• Ordinance on organic farming and the labelling of organically produced products 
and foodstuffs (Organic Farming Ordinance) (910.18) (2 pages in French);  
• Ordinance of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and 
Resear ch (EAER) on organic farming (910.181) (6 pages in French);  
• Ordinance of the Federal Office for Agriculture (FOAG) on organic farming (new) 
(19 pages in French).  
6. Description of content:   
Organic Farming Ordinance  (SR 910.18):  
Since the organic equivalence determination process for bilateral arrangements is led by 
the Federal Office for Agriculture (FOAG), in future the competence for the inclusion of the 
countries in the list of countries shall fall under the responsability of FOA and not of the  
Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (EAER) any longer 
(Article 23 (1)).   
The approval procedure for control bodies and inspection authorities in third countri es 
should only be used in special cases. For EU recognised bodies and authorities this shall be 
abando ned altogether (Article 23a (1 -4), Article 24 (5 & 6)).  
EAER Ordin ance on Organic Farming (SR 910.181):  
Repeal of Article 4 and Annex 4 concerning country lists and Article 4a and Annex 4a 
concerning the list of certificatio n bodies following the proposed amendments to the 
Organic Farming Ordinance.  
Minor amendments to annexes 1 -3. G/TBT/N/CHE/243  
 
- 2 - 
 
  FOAG Ordinance on Organic Farming (new):  
FOAG administers the list of countries (Article 1) and the list of certification bodies in third 
countrie s (Article 2) following the proposed amendments to the Organic Farming 
Ordinance.  
7. Objective and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems where 
applicable:  Delegation of administrative competencies; minor formal modifications  
8. Relevant documents:   
•  Organic Farming Ordinance SR 910.18 of 22 September 1997 (Status as 
of 1 January 2019), non -official translation  
https://www.admin.ch/opc/en/classified -compilation/19970385/index.html  
•  EAER Ordinance on Organic Farming SR 910.181 of 22 September 1997 (Status 
as of 1 July 2019), non -official translation  
https://www.admin.ch/opc/en/classified -compilatio n/19970387/index.html  
9. Proposed date of adoption:  28 October 2020  
Proposed date of entry into force:  1 January 2021  
10. Final date for comments:  10 May 2020  
11. Texts available from:  National enquiry point [X] or address, telephone and fax 
numbers and email and website addresses, if available , of other body:   
State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO  
Holzikofenweg 36, 3003 Berne  
tbt@seco.admin.ch  
https://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2020/TBT/CHE/20_1180_00_f.pdf  
https://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2 020/TBT/CHE/20_1180_01_f.pdf  
https://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2020/TBT/CHE/20_1180_02_f.pdf