The European Union(EU) regulates organic food and agricultural products produced and/or processed within the EU and organic goods from elsewhere. These can readily be imported from non-EU countries.
All consignments of organic products imported from countries outside the EU, excluding the European Economic Area and Switzerland, must be accompanied by an electronic certificate of inspection (COI) . This certificate can be issued by several Control Union Certifications offices worldwide.
The original certificate of inspection must be presented together with the imported organic products to the relevant Member State's authority, usually this is the local authority at the port of arrival.
As of the 19th of October 2017, the EU Commission - as standard owner - requires the use of the central platform called TRACES for issuing the electronic certificate of inspection for imported organic.
This pioneering (soon to be real ‘e’)-certification system will contribute to enhancing food safety provisions and reducing potential fraud and provide much more comprehensive statistical data on organic imports. It aims also to limit the administrative burden for operators and authorities. As soon as the digital signature will be functional, the paper version will be phased out as well.
Our clients can use the current system which is available on the website of Control Union : start the COI application through the well-known client portal (CIS). This will not require the parties (exporter and importer) to change their existing procedures and Control Union can finalise the process through the TRACES server to deliver in time the COI document for import into the EU as before.
Benefits are the quick process time since the exporter submits the information and information can be verified faster compared to other approaches.
For more information please visit
the website of Traces by the European Commission or
our website.
For questions, please contact us at
traces@controlunion.com
