Organic Food: EU Law

(asked on 1st December 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the potential effect on sales of organic goods of EU requirements for proof of compliance with sanitary and phytosanitary rules after 1 January 2020; and if he will make a statement.


Answered by
Victoria Prentis Portrait
Victoria Prentis
Attorney General
This question was answered on 9th December 2020

EU requirements for proof of compliance with sanitary and phytosanitary rules after 1 January 2020 affect all products regardless of whether they are organic or not. All organic imports from third countries, except from the EU, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland, must be accompanied by a GB Certificate of Inspection (COI) from 1 January 2021.

Organic imports from the EU, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland will need to be accompanied by a GB COI from 1 July 2021. We are implementing this phased approach for COIs from the EU, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland to provide additional time for ports to adjust to the new GB organic import process from 1 January 2021. This decision is in line with a number of other phased approaches designed to simplify import procedures in the short term.

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