Organic products

Draft Law of Ukraine "On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine to Harmonize Them with the Legislation of European Union in the Field of Organic Production, Circulation and Labeling of Organic Products"; (97 page(s), in Ukrainian)

The draft Law outlines the fundamental principles and requirements for organic production, circulation, and labeling of organic products, as well as establishes the legal and organizational framework for state control intended to verify compliance by operators and groups of operators with the legislation governing organic production, circulation, and labelling, and to oversee authorized certification bodies.

It is developed to align the Law of Ukraine "On Basic Principles and Requirements for Organic Production, Circulation and Labeling of Organic Products" with the provisions of Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 on organic production and labelling of organic products and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 834/2007.

The draft Law provides for the following:

to expand the scope of legislation related to organic production, circulation and labeling of organic products by expanding the types of products that can be certified as organic;

to extend mandatory certification requirements to businesses that sell organic products and/or products in the transition period directly to the end consumer, except for the sale of packaged organic products, products in the transition period, provided that these businesses do not engage in production, storage (except for storage related to the place of sale) or imports of such products, as well as do not delegate these activities to third parties on a contractual (tolling) basis;

to increase the number of state registers in the field of organic production, circulation and labeling of organic products, specifically by establishing the State Register of Organic Animals and Aquaculture Young stock;

to implement a system of state control in organic production, circulation and labeling of organic products, which provides for the authorization of certification bodies to conduct state control measures and supervision by the competent supervisory authority over authorized certification bodies, particularly in the form of annual audits;

to implement a procedure for authorizing a certification body by the competent authority to conduct certain state control measures and other official activities;

to authorise the competent authority to approve exceptions to organic production requirements by operators (groups of operators), as well as to approve a retrospective start date for the transition period;

to introduce the possibility of certifying group of operators;

to update the requirements to the List of products and substances permitted for use in organic production under certain conditions and the conditions of their use, aligning it with European legislation;

to define the categories of organic products within which the certification of organic production and circulation of organic products is carried out, and according to which EU organic products are traded with third countries;

to implement a reporting procedure on the areas of land used for organic production, as well as on the volumes of organic products produced, sold and imported;

to provide for a clear mechanism for responding to cases of non-compliance or justified suspicion of non-compliance by operators and authorized certification bodies, including conducting an official investigation to determine the source and cause of the ingress of products or substances not permitted for use in organic production into organic products or products in the transition period;

to align the labeling requirements for organic products and products containing organic ingredients with European legislation, in particular, to establish specific labeling provisions for hunting or fishing products containing organic ingredients.

The draft Law also states that organic products and products in the transition period produced before the enactment of this Law, and labeled according to the legislation on organic production, circulation and labeling that was in effect prior to this Law, may be placed on the market and/or remain in circulation until consumption end date, expiration date, minimum shelf life, or "use by" date (for food products), as well as until the end of the minimum storage period (for feed).