According to the European Union legislation, the amendments made by the European Commission to the acquis, which are subject to third-party conformity assessment bodies that carry out certification activities within the scope of Organic Agriculture (OA-EU), have been concluded.
EU 848/2018 Regulation on Organic Production and Labeling of Organic Products, which will replace the European Union's Regulation No. EC 834/2007, which is taken as the basis for OA-EU accreditation, was published in 2018 and the effective date was determined as January 1, 2021. this date has been postponed to January 1, 2022.
While the EC 834/2007 Regulation includes the recognition of the equivalence (equivalence) mechanism of the control bodies in the 3rd countries that make organic agriculture certification under certain conditions, in the EU 848/2018 Regulation, this equivalence recognition mechanism was removed at the end of a 2-year transition period. A mechanism for the recognition of the conformity (compliance) of the control bodies in the third countries that carry out organic agriculture certification has been introduced.
In this respect, the accreditation audits to be carried out by the Turkish Accreditation Agency for the bodies that will apply for certification activities within the scope of Organic Agriculture (OA-EU) for the first time according to the European Union legislation, EU Regulation No. 848/2018 and the conditions of auxiliary supporting regulations related to this Regulation will be the subject.
The deadline for transition to the eligibility system for bodies with recognized equivalence has been determined by the European Commission as 31.12.2023. Accordingly, until January 1, 2022, certification bodies accredited with the equivalence mechanism and authorized by the European Commission, based on the requirements of the Regulation No. EC 834/2007, complete the harmonization procedures to meet the requirements of the new Regulation and submit their applications for transition to TÜRKAK by 31 July 2022 at the latest are expected to do. It is envisaged that the transition-related accreditation audits of the said institutions and the updating of the accreditation scopes according to the new legislation will be completed by 30 November 2022.
