EU 848/2018 “Organic Production and Labelling of Organic Products and Repealing Council Regulation”, which will replace the European Union's Regulation No. EC 834/2007, which is the basis for accreditation of OF-EU, was published in 2018. The effective date of the regulation was determined as January 1, 2021, but this date was postponed to January 1, 2022 due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
Regulation EC 834/2007 included the recognition of equivalence (equivalent) mechanism under certain conditions of the control bodies in 3rd countries that make organic agriculture certification. However, in the Regulation No. EU 848/2018, this mechanism of recognition of equivalence was abolished at the end of a 2-year transition period, and the recognition mechanism of the conformity of the control bodies in the 3rd countries that make organic agriculture certification was introduced.
In this respect, according to the European Commission, European Union legislation; for organizations that will apply for certification activities within the scope of Organic Agriculture for the first time, the accreditation assessments to be carried out by the Turkish Accreditation Agency will be subject to the EU 848/2018 Regulation and the conditions of the supporting regulations related to this Regulation,
The deadline for transition to the conformity system for organizations with recognized equivalence has been determined by the European Commission as 31.12.2023. 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, are expected to complete the harmonization process to meet the requirements of the new Regulation and to submit their applications for transition to TÜRKAK by 31 July 2022 at the latest. It is foreseen that the processes of carrying out the accreditation assessments of the institutions regarding the transition and updating the accreditation scopes according to the new legislation will be completed by 30 November 2022.
