Eco control body

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Inspection bodies in Germany state-approved certification bodies that demonstrate compliance with the criteria of the EU Eco-Regulation Check (Regulation (EC) 834/2007) in farms and companies in the processing and trade. If the control is passed, the companies are entitled to label their products with the German organic seal and the EU organic logo next to the number of the inspection body. As a rule, the organic inspection bodies also take over the control of businesses in accordance with the guidelines of the organic associations (e.g. Bioland , Naturland ).

Inspection bodies approved in Germany

are sorted according to the number assigned to them (as of May 2020):

  • Kiwa BCS Öko-Garantie GmbH (DE-ÖKO-001)
  • LACON GmbH (DE-ÖKO-003)
  • Ecocert IMO GmbH (DE-ÖKO-005)
  • ABCERT AG (DE-ÖKO-006)
  • Audit company processing ecological agricultural products eV (DE-ÖKO-007)
  • LC Landwirtschafts-Consulting GmbH (DE-ÖKO-009)
  • AGRECO RF GÖDERZ GmbH (DE-ÖKO-012)
  • QC & I GmbH (DE-ÖKO-013)
  • Grünstempel® - Ökoprüfstelle eV (DE-ÖKO-021)
  • Control Association of Organic Farming eV (DE-ÖKO-022)
  • Association for ÖKO-Control mbH (DE-ÖKO-034)
  • ÖKOP Certification GmbH (DE-ÖKO-037)
  • GfRS Society for Resource Protection mbH (DE-ÖKO-039)
  • ARS PROBATA GmbH (DE-ÖKO-044)
  • QAL Society for Quality Assurance in the Agricultural and Food Industry GmbH (DE-ÖKO-060)
  • ABC GmbH (DE-ÖKO-064)
  • PCU Germany GmbH (DE-ÖKO-070)

Control of establishments and companies

Like conventional products, organic products must meet the requirements of food and feed law. For an additional organic certification, the control system and procedure provided for in the EC organic regulation must be carried out. The EU member states can decide whether they want this control procedure to be carried out solely by state bodies ("System B", example: Denmark) or as a state-monitored system ("System A", example: Germany) or by both state and private state-monitored bodies ("System C", example: Luxembourg - one Luxembourg state and three German and one Belgian private bodies).

The state-approved organic inspection bodies in Germany are responsible for controlling the production and processing of organic food. They check and monitor compliance with the EC organic regulation on site. A control contract is concluded between the company and the control body. The company undertakes to comply with the EC organic regulation and agrees to the standard inspection program of the inspection body. Agricultural businesses as well as processing, trading and importing companies are checked at least once a year - more often if necessary - by their inspection body. The audited companies bear the costs. Controls are announced in a risk-oriented manner and carried out unannounced, at least once a year.

The minimum control requirements for farms, processors, storekeepers, traders and importers are described in the EC organic regulation. Producers and companies in the downstream sector must specify exactly on which areas, in which buildings and with which facilities. The companies are obliged to precisely record and record all equipment and products that enter the company at all processing stages. This ensures that organic products can be traced back to the producer.

Supervision of the control posts

The state approval procedure for the inspection bodies is regulated in detail in the EC organic regulation. The control bodies must be accredited by the DAkkS. Approval is granted by the Federal Agency for Agriculture and Food (BLE); it also decides on their withdrawal or restriction. In principle, the approval is valid for the entire federal territory regardless of the seat of the inspection body. A control center based in Göttingen can therefore also check a company in Bavaria. All German organic inspection bodies must be accredited by the German accreditation body . The control bodies are subject to constant supervision by the respective competent authority of the federal state where the control is carried out. Due to the federal structure, 16 monitoring authorities are responsible for the approved inspection bodies in Germany. Around 5% of the controls carried out by the organic inspection bodies are accompanied by the authorities. In Lower Saxony, for example, LAVES and in Bavaria the Bavarian State Agency for Agriculture are responsible for the implementation of the EC organic regulation and the supervision of private control bodies.

The approval of the BLE is valid in the federal states that have issued mortgage lending regulations, subject to the condition of a corresponding mortgage . Currently these are Bavaria, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein. Lending strengthens the legal position of the control bodies. However, their market flexibility is weakened, u. a. by being bound by the respective fee regulations of the federal states.

Numbering system

The control body numbers on organically produced products have been based on a uniform system in the EU since January 1, 2011:

DE-ÖKO-099

  • DE = country code according to ISO 3166 for Germany ( country code for EU member states )
  • ÖKO = word assigned by the member state (Italy "BIO", Denmark "ØKO")
  • 099 = two- (e.g. France, Belgium) or three-digit (e.g. Germany, Italy) number for unique identification of the control point.

Each control point has a permanently assigned number. The 17 control posts currently active in Germany have numbers between 001 and 070 , e.g. B. 001 for Kiwa BCS Öko-Garantie GmbH, 003 for LACON GmbH, 006 for ABCERT AG, 007 for the Prüfvereinverarbeitung eV or 039 for the Gesellschaft für Ressourcenschutz mbH.

cooperation

The German inspection bodies cooperate with one another in order to further develop the inspection process for the continuously growing organic market and to ensure consumer protection.

At the same time there is a certain amount of competition, which is of secondary importance with the strong growth of the organic market and is not relevant to quality due to the intensive state surveillance.

Some control bodies work closely with associations of organic farming: ABCert 006 cooperates with Bioland, auditing company (until 2018 auditing association) 007 and control association 022 cooperate with the Demeter association in the areas of processing and production. BCS 001 from "eco pioneer" Peter Grosch was taken over by the global certification service provider KIWA. The Berlin control agency Agro Öko Consult, which focuses on the new federal states, came under the umbrella of the Dutch company Peterson Control Union (PCU). The IMO control body as a German branch of the Swiss IMOswiss AG was taken over by ecocert in 2013.

Financial stability, independence and objectivity

Most of the private control bodies are limited liability companies . Green temple and the agricultural "Demeter" control center DE 022 are registered associations, ABCERT 006 is a stock corporation .

The staff of the organic inspection bodies are checked and approved by the BLE with regard to their qualifications, provided they perform assessment and certification tasks. The on-site inspections at companies and farmers (audits) are carried out by inspectors. Their qualifications in the individual control areas (A agriculture, B processing, C import, D outsourcing to third parties, E feed) are also checked by the BLE as part of the approval process. The number of organic inspectors in Germany is estimated at 500 - 700.

In some federal states, the inspection bodies work as "state-lent" units. This means closer “guidance” by the respective control authority with regard to fees, staffing levels, qualifications of employees, etc. Your official, quasi sovereign task in the area of ​​food authenticity is thereby underlined.

Control system in Austria

The corresponding facilities for checking the products marketed as "eco" or "bio" and marked with the EU organic logo for compliance with the standards of Regulation (EC) No. 835/2007 are called organic inspection bodies in Austria and their identification with the organic seal Control number . They are structured according to the same pattern as AT-BIO-301, with the first digit denoting the federal state (here: Lower Austria) and the last digits the respective control point.

Individual evidence

  1. Organic inspection bodies. November 16, 2018, accessed January 1, 2020 .
  2. www.sicherheit.bio
  3. a b European Commission, Agriculture and Rural Development: Control System
  4. Section 2 (2) of the Organic Farming Act (ÖLG), on the requirements Section 4
  5. § 4 Paragraph 3 ÖLG
  6. § 4 Paragraph 5 f. ÖLG
  7. Organic inspection bodies. November 16, 2018, accessed December 12, 2018 .
  8. Federal Ministry for Agriculture, Regions and Tourism : Labeling of organic food

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