INFORMATION FOR THE CANDITATES WHO WANT TO BECOME AN INSPECTOR OR A CERTIFIER
For inspectors and certifiers who start working in control bodies, information on the authorization procedures may be accessed at the Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry link: https://www.tarimorman.gov.tr/Konular/Bitkisel-Uretim/Organik-Tarim. Accordingly, the requirements and documents requested in applications for the Inspector and the Certifier authorization are as follows:
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Petition for authorization
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Profession: To be a graduate of one of the faculties of agriculture, veterinary, aquaculture, or food engineering, or the fisheries technology engineering department of the faculty of marine sciences (photocopy of the diploma certified as true copy).
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For experience, at least one of the following conditions must be met:
Employment under social security (SGK statement) within an authorized control body or having at least one year of knowledge and experience in organic farming at the Ministry or provincial directorate, documented accordingly.
Participation in inspector training organized or commissioned by the Ministry, having been employed under social security within an authorized control body for at least three months, accompanied the inspector in the field for at least ten working days and twenty operator inspections, and documentation that a provincial directorate staff member accompanied at least five of these inspections.
Documentation that the person has previously been authorized by the Ministry as an inspector or a certifier (authorization letter sent by the Ministry).
Important: Documentation that certifiers have served at least one year as inspectors (authorization letter given by the Ministry plus a letter stating the inspector service).
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Statement of Turkish ID number (photocopy of ID card, driver’s license, etc.).
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Notarized signature declaration.
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Notarized contract with the authorized control body.
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Original membership record from the relevant professional chamber in line with one’s license (issued within the last 6 months).
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Social security institution registration certificate in the name of the organization.
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One passport-size photograph taken within the last year.
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Official documents showing the social security registration of employees.
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Official receipt for the service fee to be transferred for the request of inspector authorization for the revolving fund enterprise (approved by the Ministry).
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The Ministry may request additional information and documents if deemed necessary.
Information notes
In addition to the above-mentioned information, the following details may be useful, in accordance with the Regulation on the Principles and Implementation of Organic Farming published in the Official Gazette No. 27676:
Definition of inspector:
A natural person authorized by the Ministry to monitor, on behalf of a control body, the application of every stage of organic farming activities in accordance with the relevant legislation.
Definition of certifier:
A natural person authorized by the Ministry to confirm, on behalf of a control body, that a product is organic after its inspection has been completed.
Article 34 Control authority-1 states that;
Control bodies and inspectors authorized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of the Republic of Turkey may not transfer their authority to any other institution, organization, or person.
Article 39 Requirements for authorized control bodies-1/a states that;
If the scope of authorization of the authorized control body is only certification, it must employ at least one certifier; if it is only control, at least one inspector; if both control and certification, at least one inspector and one certifier.
Article 39 Requirements for authorized control bodies-1/d and e state that;
Managers, partners, inspectors, and employees of the authorized control body, as well as their first-degree relatives, may not inspect or certify organic farming activities. Managers, partners, inspectors, and employees of the authorized control body may not serve in another authorized control body at the same time. Those working in the control unit may not work in the certification unit, and those in the certification unit may not work in the control unit.
Article 39 Requirements for authorized control bodies-1/b states that;
A control body must be accredited in accordance with TS EN ISO/IEC 17020:2012 standard; a certification body or control and certification body must be accredited in accordance with TS EN ISO/IEC 17065 standard by the Turkish Accreditation Agency or by international accreditation institutions recognized under a mutual recognition agreement of the European Accreditation Association.
Article 38 Certification principles state that;
A certification body or a control and certification body must meet the criteria determined by the Regulation on the Principles and Implementation of Organic Farming and the compliance of certification principles in accordance with TS EN ISO/IEC 17065. Accordingly, personnel must be competent for the functions they perform, including making necessary technical judgments, defining policies, and implementing them. The organization must establish, implement, and maintain a procedure for managing the competence of its personnel.
Article 45 Inspector training course, conditions for inspector and certifier applications, and rules for authorization and working procedures and principles state that;
For those to be authorized as certifiers for the first time, the name of the control body where they have served as inspectors for at least one year and the dates of authorization must be stated in the application for authorization.
An inspector or certifier works only for one authorized control body, is registered with the Ministry by being issued an ID card, and works full-time. If it is determined that an inspector or certifier has acted in violation of the provisions of the Regulation on the Principles and Implementation of Organic Farming, the authorization granted by the Ministry is revoked by committee decision. No new authorization shall be granted until one year has passed from the date of revocation. If the inspector and/or certifier to be subject to revocation have already left the organization, they still cannot be re-authorized until one year has passed following the committee decision.
Provisional Article 2 Status of control and certification bodies and certifiers-2 states that;
The authorization of certifiers authorized on behalf of a control body continues as long as they serve as certifiers for the same organization.
Treatment of the competence of control body personnel in other regulations
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: Article 46 Recognition of control authorities and control bodies-2/a states that;
The control body may not transfer its control authority and must have the capacity to carry out the controls of organic products intended for export to the European Union itself.
In line with the requirements of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/1698, which supplementing Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and 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:
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control bodies must have the capacity and competence to carry out control and certification activities,
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have procedures and arrangements to ensure the impartiality, quality, consistency, effectiveness, and appropriateness of controls and other activities,
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have sufficient qualified and experienced personnel to carry out controls and other activities effectively and in a timely manner.
For this purpose, control bodies have appropriate continuous training programs.
Requirements set by the USDA National Organic Program (NOP) of the United States Department of Agriculture for control body personnel
Control body personnel, operators and their employees, or anyone wishing to learn about the NOP can receive training from the USDA Organic Integrity Learning Center (OILC) training portal, completely free of charge and offering adequate training. Access is available by registering at: https://www.ams.usda.gov/services/organic-certification/training
§ 205.501 (a) (4) states that;
Before being assigned initial inspection responsibilities, inspectors must demonstrate at least 2,000 hours of experience relevant to the scope and complexity of the operations they will inspect.
This experience may be acquired by working for another control body or in agricultural production activities.
According to the USDA NOP, additional training and experience requirements for inspector qualification are as follows;
Inspectors with less than one year of inspection experience must complete at least 50 hours of training within their first year prior to performing inspections independently.
Inspectors with one or more years of inspection experience must annually complete at least 10 hours of training if inspecting one area of operation (crop production, livestock, processing, or wild collection) and an additional 5 hours of training for each additional area of operation inspected.
According to the USDA NOP, additional training and experience requirements for certifier and certification review personnel qualification are as follows;
Certification review personnel with less than one year of certification review experience must complete at least 50 hours of training within their first year performing certification review. Certification review personnel with one or more years of certification review experience must annually complete at least 10 hours of training if conducting certification review related to one area of operation and an additional 5 hours of training for each additional area of operation.