Obtaining Certification

How to obtain certification of organic fruit and vegetables in developing countries.

As explained previously, producers and exporters of organic fruit and vegetables seeking to sell their products under the organic label in developed countries have to obtain organic certification. This can be done by the certification bodies of the countries targeted for export, or by other foreign certification bodies, or under a partnership agreement between these two types of certification bodies. To date, relatively few developing countries have certification bodies within their borders, although the situation is changing.

Currently, certification for export in developing countries is often carried out by the certification bodies of the importing countries, even though there are some notable exceptions (e.g., Argentina). The advantage for the exporter is that the logos of these bodies are well known and trusted by consumers in their countries, thus giving the product a better visibility and commercial advantage. The major drawback is that this type of certification can be very expensive, especially when inspectors need to come from the country of the certification body. In order to reduce costs to producers and exporters, international certification bodies tend to use local organic inspectors. Many international certification bodies, such as Ecocert, OCIA or BCS-Öko, have established local branches in developing countries. These branches tend to recruit local staff, which reduces costs. When no local branch exists in a given country, there might be a regional branch in a nearby country that may send a team to carry out inspections and even certification.

Organic certification can also be carried out by local certification bodies in developing countries where these exist, provided that they are accredited by the authorities of the importing country. Experience to date shows that this can be a difficult and long process. To be accredited, a certification body must demonstrate that it complies with basic criteria of transparency and independence (freedom from the influence of vested interests). Certification bodies may be evaluated according to their ability to meet such criteria, and this requires an analysis of their certification systems, including an assessment of their personnel, standards and their inspection and certification procedures. An increasing number of importing countries require that certification bodies comply with the ISO 65 standard or equivalent norms which set out the details of such procedures.

Specific advice on how to establish local certification bodies is provided in the following publication by IFOAM (1997): Building trust in organics: A guide to setting up organic certification programmes, by Gunnar Rundgren.