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On December 6th, 2011 the European Commission published the first list of control bodies recognised as implementing equivalent organic standards and control measures in third countries. The list is published as implementing regulation (EU) 1267/2011 which amends previous regulation 1235/2008. The list of equivalent control bodies is entered into Annex IV of the latter regulation. The IOAS issued a press release on this event on December 12, 2011.

The list includes 30 control bodies from around the world, 23 of which are supervised by the IOAS under the European Recognition Programme under which the IOAS performed a detailed equivalence report which formed part of the certifiers' applications to the Commission.

Regulation (EU) 1267/2011 does not come into force until July 1, 2012 which means that the Commission have also used this amendment to extend the transition period to the new system by allowing import authorisations to be granted up until July 1, 2013 (previously January 1, 2013)

A number of control bodies are still working on providing information to the Commission Services and it is expected that the above list will be updated before July 1, 2012.

As the list is not yet 'active' no annual report will be required in March 2012 as described in Articles 5 and 12 of (EC) 1235/2008.

The Commission have also clarified that no use of the certification body code numbers indicated in regulation (EC) 1267/2011 can take place before July 1.

Background
Since January 1, 2009 all certification organisations or control bodies with activities outside of the EU member states which certify organic products entering the EU are required to demonstrate that they operate a compliant or equivalent control system to that required within Europe.

The IOAS offers accreditation against ISO Guide 65 with a separate equivalence assessment of standards (Article 33 of 834/2007)

The service is available to certification bodies operating in third countries (including those based in the EU) and requires the use of a standard which will be assessed for equivalence to (EC) 834/2007 and related implementing rules. The certification body may not certify directly against the regulation.

This service requires entry into both the IOAS ISO Guide 65 programme and the EU Recognition Programme because two assessments are involved.

The International ACB group has prepared and published the 'Equivalent European Union Organic Production & Processing Standard for Third Countries' for use by themselves as a certification standard that is equivalent to (EC) 834/2007 and related implementing rules. This standard is available for use by other certification bodies. Contact their Administrator Akiko Nicholls for more information.

A guidance document 'Guidelines on imports of organic products into the European Union' was published by the Commission in December 2008 and contains important information on the application process to the European Commission which is the responsiblity of the certification body. The role of the IOAS is to provide an independent report on equivalence of standards and control measures applied.