It is essential to take the necessary measures at every stage of production, preparation, and distribution in order to prevent products produced in accordance with organic production rules from being contaminated with products or substances not permitted in organic production and to prevent them from mixing with non-organic products, thus maintaining the organic integrity of the products.

Official Regulations on organic production, in particular the European Union new Organic Production Regulation (EU) 2018/848 and the United States Department of Agriculture National Organic Program (USDA-NOP) strengthened implementation (SOE = Strengthening Organic Enforcement), have introduced additional rules or updated existing rules to ensure that the integrity of organically produced products is maintained at every stage and to prevent non-organic products from being misleadingly labeled, presented, and sold as organic.

Below you may find the issues addressed in the mentioned Regulations. For more information, we strongly recommend reviewing the relevant Regulations.

With regard to organic production and the labeling of organic products, the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018, (EU) 2018/848, described the integrity of organic or in-conversion products in Article 3 Definitions. Accordingly; ‘integrity of organic or in-conversion products’ means the fact that the product does not exhibit non-compliance which in any stage of production, preparation and distribution affects the organic or in-conversion characteristics of the product; or is repetitive or intentional.

(EU) 2018/848 Article 5 General Principles
One of the general principles is that “ensuring the integrity of organic production at all stages of the production, preparation and distribution of food and feed.”

(EU) 2018/848 Article 36 Group Operator
“2. Competent authorities, or, where appropriate, control authorities or control bodies, shall withdraw the certificate referred to in Article 35 for the whole group where deficiencies in the set-up or functioning of the system for internal controls, in particular as regards failures to detect or address non-compliance by individual members of the group of operators, affect the integrity of organic and in conversion products.”

For example; – producing, processing, preparing or placing on the market of
products from suspended/withdrawn members or production units, – failing to indicate the members which have been suspended or withdrawn in the list of members, are among the deficiencies mentioned above.

(EU) 2021/279 – Commission Implementing Regulation laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council on controls and other measures ensuring traceability and compliance in organic production and the labelling of organic products; Article 2.3 Methodology of an official investigation: The official investigation shall at least conclude on the integrity of organic and in-conversion products.

(EU) 2021/1698 – Commission Delegated Regulation Supplementing Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council with procedural requirements for the recognition of control authorities and control bodies that are competent to carry out controls on operators and groups of operators certified organic and on organic products in third countries and with rules on their supervision and the controls and other actions to be performed by those control authorities and control bodies; Article 21.1 The control authority or control body shall immediately share information with the Commission, with other control authorities and control bodies, and with the competent authorities of the Member States and of the third countries concerned on any suspicion of non-compliance that affects the integrity of organic or in-conversion products.

Similarly, Article 10.1-d-iv) Operators and groups of operators commit themselves to inform buyers of the products in writing and without undue delay, and to exchange relevant information with the control authority or control body, in the event that a suspicion of non-compliance has been substantiated, that a suspicion of non-compliance cannot be eliminated, or that non-compliance that affects the integrity of the products in question has been established.

Article 22.3-b-ii) One of the four parameters used in the classification of non-compliances is the impact of the non-compliance on the integrity of the organic or in-conversion of products. In minor non-compliance, the integrity of organic and in-conversion products is not affected, while in major and critical non-compliances the integrity is affected.

United States Department of Agriculture National Organic Program (USDA-NOP)

As of March 19, 2024, the Strengthening Organic Enforcement (SOE) has come into force. The main objective has been to protect organic integrity and increase consumer confidence in the USDA organic seal. In particular, due to the increasing complexity of organic supply chains and the detection of fraud cases, Organic Enforcement has been strengthened. In summary:

• In § 205.101, all exemptions are listed more clearly, and firms and activities exempted from certification are made to better understand the rules they must still comply with.
• With the amended regulation, the “NOP import certificate” has become mandatory regardless of the country of origin. The NOP import certificate is issued electronically through the Organic Integrity Database.
• The operator’s certificate is now also issued within the Organic Integrity Database system.
• The control body shall record up-to-date data of each operator it certifies in the Organic Integrity Database.
• The new regulation also requires control bodies, handlers, and border officials to be alerted about the contents of non-retail containers, providing an additional safeguard for the integrity of organic products.
• With the new regulation, the requirement of at least 5% unannounced inspections, previously mentioned in guidance documents, has been added to the NOP standard.
• For sufficient inspection, the necessity of traceability and mass-balance verification has been added.
• The definition of group operation has been introduced, and additional provisions have been added to the standard regarding the content of the Group Operator Organic System Plan and the control of the group operation.
• An important point added to the provision on OSP is the requirement for an “organic fraud prevention plan”. Accordingly, § 205.201-a/3; The organic production or handling system plan must include a description of the monitoring practices and procedures to be performed and maintained, including the frequency with which they will be performed, to verify that the plan is effectively implemented. This must include a description of the monitoring practices and procedures to verify suppliers in the supply chain and organic status of agricultural products received, and to prevent organic fraud, as appropriate to the certified operation’s activities, scope, and complexity.