G/TBT/W/720  
 
10 March  2020 
(20-1840) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
EUROPEAN UNION - REGULATION (EU) 2018/84 8 OF THE EUROPEAN PA RLIAMENT  
AND OF THE COUNCIL O F 30 MAY 2018 ON ORG ANIC PRODUCTION AND  
LABELLING OF ORGANIC  PRODUCTS  
STATEMENT BY THE EUROPEAN UNION TO THE COMMITTEE ON TECHNICAL BARRIERS T O TRADE  
26 – 27 FEBRUARY  2020 
The following communication, dated 9 March  2020, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of the European Union . 
 
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1.  The European Union thanks the Dominican Republic for raising this issue.  
2.  Concerning  the first point on group of operators for the purpose of certification, under the current 
EU organic regulation, the group certification is not possible for operators in the EU. They must be 
certified individually, regardless of their activity and size. S mall producers therefore have to bear 
directly the cost and administrative burden of an individual certification by a control body or a control 
authority. However, group certification has been made possible in third countries. The Commission 
published guid elines in 2008 providing for specific requirements.  
3.  The new organic Regulation (EU) 2018/848 establishes a system of group certification in the EU, 
aiming at reducing the inspection and certification costs for small farmers and operators in the EU. 
However , this possibility has been accompanied by conditions for the system to offer guarantees in 
terms of control efficiency that are comparable to individual certification, and to limit the group 
certification  only to small producers. Article 36 (1)  specifies that a group certification shall be only 
composed of members who are farmers and who, in addition, may be engaged in processing, 
preparation or placing on the market of food and feed. A size limit has been set, expressed either in 
terms of the in dividual cost of certification and the maximum annual turnover, or in terms of the 
maximum size of the holdings. Finally, a group certification shall have legal personality and establish 
a system for internal control.  
4.  Article 36 (3) and Article 36 (4) empo wer the Commission to adopt secondary legislation 
concerning, in particular, the set -up and functioning of the internal control system and the 
composition and lay down specific rules regarding the dimension of a group of operators. Discussions 
with EU Memb er States are ongoing; the aim is to conclude the technical discussions and launch the 
adoption procedures of the relevant legislative acts eventually in June 2020.  
5.  The rules foreseen in the basic Regulation and in the secondary acts concern the introduct ion 
into the EU of the principle of group certification. Third countries are free to set up their own 
standards for organic farming. Organic is a voluntary scheme. However, when an organic product 
originating in a third country is exported to the EU by mea ns of control bodies certified by the 
Commission , this product must comply with EU organic production rules, including provisions on 
group certification. The main importers of organic products, such as USA, Canada, Japan, 
South  Korea or China, also apply this compliance principle.  
6.  The Commission is considering concerns expressed by the Dominican Republic and other third 
countries very carefully and take them into account in the preparatory work and discussions with 
EU Member states. The objective of the Co mmission is to achieve the best possible compromise 
between the need for a system for group certification with provides with the same level of assurance G/TBT/W/720  
 
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  as individual certification, while facilitating access to organic production by small producers, includ ing 
in third countries.  
7.  Concerning the second point raised in relation to Regulation 2020/25, the Commission would like 
to make the following clarifications: to import organic products from third countries, the Certificate 
of Inspection (COI) shall be iss ued before the consignment leaves the third countries . This 
requirement has always been enshrined in the Commission Implementing Regulation  1235/2008 to 
ensure traceability. Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 25/2020 has not added any new 
requirement,  only a legal clarification to avoid misinterpretations.  
8.  Stakeholders raised the problem that transport documents are made available once loading of 
the products is achieved and thus the transmission to the Control body can take some time. This 
can delay t he issuance of the Certificare of Inspection leading to additional costs and damaging of 
perishable products.  
9.  The Commission will propose to amend the legislation to provide the possibility to include 
transport information within 10 days from issuance of t he Certificate and, in any case, before 
MS authorities endorse the Certificate. Meanwhile, the Commission has communicated to the Control 
Bodies how to proceed from a technical point of view.  
 
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