Seventh Framework Programme Grant Agreement No Improving the Organic Certification System Workshop in Brussels, October 14, 2011 Lizzie Melby Jespersen ICROFS, Aarhus University, Denmark Overview of the Certification Sector

Review of EU and international legal framework relevant for organic standards setting and control. (Susanne Padel) Definition of relevant economic concepts and glossary of important terms. (Alexander Zorn et al.) Public database on all actors involved in the organic certification chain for 19 EU and associated countries: (Lizzie Melby Jespersen) Overview of publicly available control prices and an estimate of the size of the organic certification sector. (Lizzie Melby Jespersen). Objective: To create improved overview of the present regulation and control of the organic sector:

European Food Law Regulation (EC) 178/2002, Regulation (EC) 882/2004 European Organic Regulations EEC/2092/91, EC/834/2007, EC/889/2008 & EC/1235/2008 ISO Guide 65/EN45011 Regulation (EC) 765/2008 on Requirements of Accreditation Bodies Codex Alimentarius Guidelines (GL ) International Initiatives Int. Task Force on Harmonisation.., Anti Fraud Initiative, ISEAL, EOCC, Alternative Organic Guarantee systems (ICS and PGS). Certification systems under Regulations (EC) 509/2006 (TSG) and 510/2006 (PDO/PGI) Legal framework considered in the review:

Regulation problems identified Lack of consistency and transparency in the regulatory framework in relation to approval and surveillance of CBs and enforcement of EC 834/2007 by competent authorities. Lack of clarity on the impact of the OFFC on the organic control system. Competition among organic control bodies for clients may lead to less strict inspection systems. Lack of harmonised procedures (penalties and follow up) related to irregularities & infringements. Lack of risk orientation in control planning & inspection visits in relation to detection of fraud Lack of co-ordination between the different actors in the control systems

database (data from 2008 if nothing else has been stated) CH CZ DE DK IT TR UK AT EE ES FI FR HU NL NO PL RO SE SI 19 countries, 356 deposits

database content: Short statistical overview of the organic sector Contact details and links to relevant web sites for all actors in the certification chain: Competent authorities (national & regional), accreditation bodies, control authorities and control bodies, standards owners, certification subsidising authorities. For Accreditation Bodies: Accreditation schemes offered, control bodies accredited, Price of 1 st time accreditation and annual fees. For Control bodies: Countries and standards certified, number, types and changes of operators, pricelist on various services, authori- zation withdrawals, number of employees (and annual status report). For Standards owners: Number of operators, logo applied and license fees. For Subsidising authorities: Subsidy requirements and size of certification subsidies.

Contact details by country: Czech Rep.

Certification chain overview by country: NORWAY

Control bodies with public price information on web site Country No. of CBs No. of CBs with price info. on web site CBs with price information in % of all CBs CZ3267 DE22314 IT18844 UK9444 CH4250 TR10220 Organic control is free of charge in DK

Control fees and size of organic certification sector: Difficult to compare prices and services between CBs and between countries. In case study on 3 farm types prices varied from CZ being cheapest ( €), followed by IT ( €), DE ( €), UK ( €), Turkey ( €) and Switzerland ( €). The variation in fee size within countries was more or less the same as between countries for several of the countries (e.g. CH, IT, and TR). Average time spent on control of the 3 farm cases in the EU countries was 7-10 hours, in CH: 7 hours and in TR: hours. The variation in time spent on the control was generally larger within countries than between countries. In 2008 about 1500 staff (FTE) were employed in the organic certification sector ( competent authorities, accreditation bodies, control authorities and bodies) in the 27 EU countries. In 2008 the cost of 1500 staff FTE corresponded to about million € giving an estimated turnover in the organic certification sector of the EU-27 of at least million €.

Seventh Framework Programme Grant Agreement No Thank you! Special thanks to the European Commission for their support and the members of the project consortium for their ongoing cooperation This presentation was generated as part of the CERTCOST Project, agreement no ( with financial support from the European Community under the 7th Framework Programme. The publication reflects the views of the author and not those of the European Community, who is not to be held liable for any use that may be made of the information contained.