Current and future challenges for ICS certified groups

Organic smallholder in low-income countries are usually certified as a group. If they export, they must have implemented ICS management. These producer groups already face many challenges in meeting the requirements. These challenges will increase with the implementation of the new EU organic regulation. At Biofach 2021 the authors presented the challenges and necessary adjustments from the perspective of African ICS groups

Group Certification. Internal Control Systems in Organic Agriculture: Significance, Opportunities and Challenges

About 80% of the world’s organic producers are smallholders in low and middle income countries, for whom individual certification would be unaffordable and administratively too complex to manage. These producers are recognised as organic due to group certification, a system in which groups of farmers implement an Internal Control System (ICS) and are certified by a third party certification body, which assesses the performance of the ICS and performs a representative number of spot-check inspections of group members. The approach of using ICS based group certification was pioneered by IFOAM – Organics International (IFOAM) and Fair Trade over the past twenty years has been adopted by the entire organic sector, including the EU and the US National Organic Programme. Very similar approaches are used, and have been further developed, by other voluntary sustainability certification programmes. Group certification is the only way that smallholder farmers in low-income countries can access certified international markets and besides reducing certification costs and complexity it also provides other important benefits. Yet, despite the (increasing) global importance of group certification in organic agriculture, there have been few studies that explicitly address the specific issues related to it. This study aims to fill that gap. It examines the current scale and scope of group certification by region and country and draws on a literature review, a stakeholder survey and expert interviews in order to identify the strengths of, success factors, and challenges facing, ICS. It assesses the importance of the individual elements of ICS, how effectively they are implemented and the opportunities for the further development of group certificatio

The European Regulatory Framework and its implementation in influencing organic inspection and certification systems in the EU

The report presents a review of the most important European and international legislation that set the framework for organic certification, of reports prepared by international agencies working with organic standard setting and certification, and of relevant scientific literature. It discusses problems, future challenges of the organic control systems in Europe leading to suggestions for improvement. Food quality assurance is of key importance for the future development of the Common Agricultural Policy of the EU. A large number of mandatory and voluntary assurance and certification schemes exist for agriculture and in the food industry leading to the risk of increased costs for producers and confusion of consumers. Such schemes include the setting of requirements and bodies that undertake control and provide certificates. Requirements can be divided into statutory regulations regarding food safety and good agricultural practice and standards for voluntary attributes. Basic requirements of food safety, animal health and animal welfare are controlled by the Official Food and Feed Control (OFFC) systems, governed by Council Regulation (EC) 882/2004. Third party certification provides credibility to claims related to voluntary standards and is communicated to the consumers through the use of certification marks. The EU has developed a legislative basis for quality claims in relation to geographical indications, traditional specialities and organic farming and considers introducing labelling rules in relation to animal welfare, environmental impact and the origin of raw materials. Organic certification is one of a number of overlapping and competing schemes. The development of organic standards and certification in Europe started with private standards and national rules, leading to Regulation (EEC) 2092/1991. The requirements for competent authorities, control bodies and operators in this regulation regarding the control systems are reviewed. The discussion highlights the low level of knowledge among consumers of the requirements of organic certification, a weak emphasis of the control system on operator responsibility for organic integrity, issues of competition and surveillance of control bodies, a lack of consideration of risk factors in designing the inspection systems and a lack of transparency. A total revision of the European Regulations on organic production began in 2005. One important change introduced by the new Council Regulation (EC) 834/2007 for Organic Food and Farming is that the organic control system is placed under the umbrella of Council Regulation (EC) 882/2004 on Official Food and Feed Controls. Regulation (EC) 834/2007 also requires that control bodies have to be accredited according to general requirements for bodies operating product certification systems (ISO Guide 65/EN 45011). From July 2010 packaged organic products will have to carry the new EU logo as well as the compulsory indication of the control body. The report reviews the requirements for competent authorities, control bodies and operators from the various legal sources. The discussion highlights a lack of clarity on the impact of the OFFC regulation on the organic control system including how risk based inspections are to be implemented and the potential for in-consistencies in the enforcement of the regulation. A number of international initiatives concerned with the harmonisation of organic standards and to a lesser extent certification are reviewed, such as the International Task Force on Harmonisation and Equivalence (ITF)1 Two main alternative guarantee systems for organic production have been developed and researched by a number of organisations including IFOAM, ISEAL, FAO and the EU Commission. Smallholder Group Certification based on an Internal Control System (ICS) and Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS) could also represent ways to minimize certification costs also for European farmers, in particular for operators that market directly or through very short supply chains. Both systems also illustrate examples of certification systems with a focus on system development and improvement. , the European Organic Certifiers Council (EOOC), the International Social and Environmental Accreditation and Labelling Alliance (ISEAL) and the Anti-Fraud Initiative (AFI). The multilateral initiatives have led to a better understanding of current problems and the scope and limitations for harmonisation. They have also contributed to the sharing of tools and methods and the identification of best practice. Apart from organic farming the European Union has two other food quality schemes: Regulation (EC) 510/2006 on geographical indications and Regulation (EC) 509/2006 on traditional specialities. The report explores the potential for combining these with organic certification, and draws lessons for organic certification based on Italian experience. The final chapter summarises problems and challenges from the previous chapters. Suggestions for improvements of the organic control system focus on two issues: the need for further harmonisation of the surveillance of control bodies and enforcement of the regulation and how operators’ responsibility for further development of organic systems could be supported in the control and certification system

FiBL Presentacion: El nuevo Reglamento Orgánico (UE) 2018/848 - Grupo de productores

El nuevo Reglamento (UE) 2018/848 tiene profundas consecuencias para casi todos los grupos de productores y operadores ecológicos en terceros países fuera de la UE. Esta presentación resume las nuevas normas del Reglamento (UE) 2018/848 con especial atención a las nuevas normas para "Grupos de Operadores" en terceros países

Informe final sobre las implicaciones del reglamento orgánico (UE) 2018/848 en Ecuador

Report on the findings of a consultancy "training and technical support on the new EU organic regulation 2018/848 and its key implications for the organic sector in Ecuador. The new EU Organic Regulation 2018/848 aims at improving the organic rules to correspond better to the high expectations of consumers and guaranteeing sufficient clarity for those to whom they are addressed. Organic trade between Ecuador and the EU will be highly affected by the new rules as the principle of equivalence for imports will be replaced by a compliance system. Ecuador is EU’s N°1 supplier of organic products. The well-established organic supply chains of organic products to the EU need to change profoundly to meet the new EU requirements. Some changes will affect all actors of the export supply chains, but the most severe impacts are expected for the more than 8800 small and medium size farms who are organized in producer groups. The report summarizes key new requirements and their implications for organic production in Ecuador with a focus on smallholder producer groups and highlights key challenges and opportunities to support the adapation to the new requirements

Training Handbook: The New EU Organic Regulation (2018/848) for Producer Groups

The training handbook was developed for organic producer groups to understand and apply the requirements of the new EU Organic Regulation. It represents FiBL’s status of understanding of the new EU regulatory requirements as per March 2024

Training Handbook: The new EU organic regulation (2018/848) for producer groups

The Training Handbook on the New EU Organic Regulation for Producer Groups consists of three parts. Part 1: Introduction and Basic Requirements; Part 2: Organic Production Rules; Part 3: Internal Control System (ICS)