Procedure for Certification of Organic Production and/or Circulation of Organic Products

CABINET OF MINISTERS OF UKRAINE

RESOLUTION

21 October 2020 No. 1032

Kyiv

On approval of the Procedure for Certification of Organic Production and/or Circulation of Organic Products and amending Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of 23 October 2019 No. 970

Pursuant to part nine of Article 24 of the Law of Ukraine “On Basic Principles and Requirements for Organic Production, Circulation and Labelling of Organic Products”, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine hereby resolves:

1. To approve the procedure for certification of organic production and/or circulation of organic products attached hereto.
2. To include the amendments as follows into the Procedure (detailed rules) of organic production and circulation of organic products approved by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 970 of 23 October 2019 (Official Bulletin of Ukraine, 2019, No. 97, p. 3201).

Prime Minister of Ukraine                                D. SHMYGAL

Ind. 75
APPROVED
by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine
21 October 2020 No. 1032

PROCEDURE
for Certification of Organic Production
and/or Circulation of Organic Products

1. This Procedure sets out the scheme of certification of organic production and/or circulation of organic products, issuing the certificate and its duplicate, as well as its form.

The terms in this Procedure are used in the meanings set out in the Law of Ukraine “On Basic Principles and Requirements for Organic Production, Circulation and Labelling of Organic Products” (hereinafter “the Law”).

2. For carrying out certification, the business entity intending to convert to organic production and/or carry out circulation of organic products shall send to a certification body an application, either via ordinary mail or telecommunication, for carrying out certification signed by an authorized person.

The application shall contain information as follows:

full name, location address, ID — for a legal entity, or family name, given name and patronymic, place of residence, taxpayer ID (or a passport serial number — for natural persons who, due to their religious beliefs, have refused to be assigned the taxpayer ID, have officially notified the respective tax authority about this fact and have the respective mark in their passport) — for a natural person-entrepreneur;

addresses of all units where the business entity is planning to carry out organic production and/or circulation of organic products;

information about land parcels where it is planned to carry out such activity: agricultural area, location;

type of activity (production in a certain area of organic production and/or circulation of organic products);

contact information (telephone number, postal address, e-mail address).

The application for carrying out certification shall be accompanied by the business entity’s personal data processing consent.

3. The certification body shall, not later than within 10 working days, review the submitted application and send to the business entity an offer to conclude an agreement for carrying out certification between the certification body and the business entity that intends to convert to organic production and/or circulation of organic products.
4. After signing the agreement the certification body shall include the operator into the annual inspections plan and set its time frame and form of the first inspection, annual scheduled audits and, if necessary, unscheduled and additional random audits.

The planning period is considered to be the year that lasts from January 1 to December 31 of the year under planning.

5. The certification body shall carry out the first inspection of the operator and determine the starting date of the conversion period (if such period is applicable), based on the results of such inspection, in accordance with Article 25 of the Law.
6. The operators with which the certification body has concluded the agreement shall be subject to annual scheduled audits that can be only on-site.
7. The certification body shall carry out unscheduled audits of the operators’ activity for any of the reasons below:

to check elimination of non-compliances with the legislation in the sphere of organic production, circulation and labelling of organic products (hereinafter the Legislation) discovered in the course of the initial inspection, annual scheduled audit or additional random audit;

the operator has requested the certification body to carry out an unscheduled audit;

information has been received from natural or legal persons as regards breach of the legislation by the operator.

8. At least 10 per cent of all operators with which the certification body has contracted shall be subject to additional random audits.

In order to determine the operators subject to additional random audit, the certification body shall carry out the annual general risk assessment of the activity of the operators with which it has contracted.

While carrying out the general risk assessment of the operators’ activities, criteria as follows shall be taken into account:

the amount of organic production, its category and range;

the number of discovered non-compliances with the legislation based on the results of the initial inspection and/or other audits carried out by the certification body in the previous base year;

existing risk of mixture and/or exchange of organic and non-organic products, including the fact that the operator carries out non-organic production;

existing concluded agreements as regards provision of certain services (works), comprising those granted on the basis of subcontracting (incl. where products are to be processed and returned without change of ownership), necessary for organic production and/or circulation of organic products;

facts of conclusion / termination of the agreement with another certification body;

number of cases to which exemptions from organic production were applied.

9. The duration of the first inspection or any other audit shall not exceed ten working days, but if there is a grounded need to extend its duration, it can be extended by up to five working days.
10. The first inspections shall be announced to the operators, while annual scheduled audits, unscheduled audits and additional random audits can be either announced or unannounced.

The number of unannounced audits shall be at least 10 per cent of the overall number of audits carried out by the certification body.

In case of an announced audit, the certification body shall notify the operator not later than three working days prior to the start of such audit. Such notification shall be sent to the operator by the certification body either via ordinary mail or by means of telecommunication.

11. If the operator has facilities where organic production or circulation of organic products is not carried out, the certification body also has the right to inspect such facilities.
12. Sampling of soil or materials, seeds and planting material, feed, products, water for laboratory assessment (testing) shall be carried out by the inspector from the respective area of organic production and/or circulation of organic products during the first inspection or another audit.

Sampling shall be carried out from at least 5% operators with which the certification body has contracted.

Laboratory assessment (testing) shall be carried out in accredited laboratories.

13. During the first inspection or another audit, the operator shall:

1) provide to the certification body description of its activity according to the Procedure (detailed rules) of organic production and circulation of organic products approved by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 970 of October 23, 2019 (Official Bulletin of Ukraine, 2019, No 97, p. 3201);

2) ensure free access for inspectors for organic production and/or circulation of organic products to its facilities and sampling, and, upon the certification body’s request, to documents necessary for certification of organic production, including access to financial documents;

3) provide to the certification body information that can be necessary for carrying out initial inspection or another audit and determining compliance of all stages of organic production and/or circulation of organic products with the legislation.

14. In case of importation of organic products the operator shall provide the certification body with the information on the following:

the list of facilities used by it and information concerning its activity as an importer;

the list of facilities planned to be used for storing organic products to be imported, before these products are handed over to the first consignee;

the first consignee (full name, location address, ID — for a legal entity, or family name, given name and patronymic, place of residence, taxpayer ID (or a passport serial number — for natural persons who, due to their religious beliefs, have refused to be assigned the taxpayer ID, have officially notified the respective tax authority about this fact and have the respective mark in their passport) — for a natural person-entrepreneur) and the list of its facilities (if applicable).

15. In case of organic production of bivalve molluscs the first inspection or another audit is carried out by the certification body before and during their maximum biomass production.
16. Based on the results of the first inspection or another audit, on its final day the inspector in the respective area of organic production and/or circulation of organic products shall prepare the inspection certificate, familiarize the operator with it and send it to the certification body.

The inspection certificate shall include:

the list of inspected/audited facilities;

non-compliances with the legal requirements discovered in the course of inspection.

17. Based on the inspection certificate and taking into account information received from operator (activity description and documents submitted by it), other certification bodies and accredited laboratories, the inspector in the respective area of organic production and/or circulation of organic products that was not involved in the first inspection or another audit of the respective operator shall assess its activity and make a report.

The report shall include:

the list of non-compliances discovered based on the assessment of the results of the first inspection and/or other audits;

measures to be taken for elimination of non-compliance with the legislation and their terms as agreed with the operator;

other information that contains conclusions as regards compliance of the operator’s activity at all stages of production and/or circulation of organic products with legal requirements.

The report compiled based on the results of the first inspection shall state the starting date of the conversion period (if such period is applied).

The certification body shall send the report to the operator via ordinary mail or by means of telecommunication within the time frame not exceeding 20 working days from the final day of the first inspection or another audit.

18. Upon the operator’s request the certification body may, on a case-by-case basis, allow the operator to assign to a third party provision of certain services (works), comprising those provided on the basis of subcontracting (incl. where products are to be processed and returned without change of ownership), necessary for organic production and/or circulation of organic products carried out by the operator, provided that such third party’s facilities are inspected and further inspections are carried out within the validity term of the respective agreement under which certain services (works) are provided.

The third party shall be audited taking into consideration requirements of the present Procedure.

19. The certification body shall, upon the operator’s request, on a case-by-case basis grant to the operator permit to apply exemptions from requirements towards organic production provided for by Article 24 of the Law.

For obtaining such permission, the operator shall send a request to the certification body with which it has contracted, stating:

name of the operator;

contact person of the operator;

information on the necessity to apply exemptions from the organic production requirements.

For obtaining permission to use non-organic seeds and/or planting material the operator shall attach to the request information about non-organic seeds and/or planting material which they intend to use, stating the crop name, supplier, qualitative characteristics, amount of such seeds and/or planting material.

For obtaining permission to use a non-organic ingredient, the operator shall attach to the request information about the non-organic ingredient included into the List of substances (ingredients, components) authorized for use in organic production, and which are allowed to be used in the maximum permissible amount, that they intend to use, stating its amount.

For obtaining permission to use non-organic animals, the operator shall attach to the request information about non-organic animals which they intend to use, stating the age and number of the animals.

The request shall be submitted before commencement of sowing and/or planting the plating material, use of the non-organic ingredient or use of the non-organic animals.

20. In the award as regards permission to apply the exemption from organic production the certification body shall state:

the grounds behind this award;

conditions for applying exemptions;

validity of the award (for seeds such validity cannot exceed one season).

21. Based on the results of inspection at all stages of production and circulation of organic products, the certification body shall take a grounded decision to issue or refuse the certificate in compliance with part three Article 27 of the Law.

The decision to issue or refuse the certificate shall be taken not later than 60 days from the annual scheduled audit starting date.

22. On the basis of the decision to issue the certificate the certification body shall issue the certificate of a standard form as per the annex.
23. The certificate shall be issued in Ukrainian and, if necessary, in English.
24. The certificate shall be valid during 15 months from the date of issue.

In case a new certificate is issued, the previous certificate becomes invalid.

25. The operator shall inform the certification body of his intention to undergo the next certification (maintain certification) not later than two months prior to expiry of the previous certificate.
26. The certification body is entitled to suspend or revoke the certificate on the grounds set by part five of Article 27 of the Law.

If the decision is taken to suspend or revoke the certificate, the certification body shall notify:

the operator — not later than on the next day following the respective decision;

Ministry of Agrarian Policy and the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection — not later than within five days following the respective decision.

27. The certification body shall keep copies of certificates and grounded decisions to issue or refuse the certificate within five years from the date of their issue.
28. If the original certificate has been lost, the operator or the person authorised by the operator will request the certification body to issue a duplicate certificate. The certification body shall within five working days after receiving such application take a decision as regards issuing the duplicate certificate respectively marked as “duplicate” and inform the operator in writing about this decision within the maximum of five working days after such decision. The duplicate certificate shall have the same validity term as the original certificate.
29. Operator data shall be made publicly available on the certification body’s website and shall contain all information provided for by the National Register of Operators, that produce products in compliance with legal requirements in the sphere of organic production, circulation and labelling of organic products.
30. In case of any changes in the data submitted to the certification body, the operator shall, not later than within five working days, inform the certification body about such changes using the method as determined in the agreement.
31. The certification bodies shall exchange operator information with the view to duly perform their obligations to carry out certification.

For the operator’s facilities that are fully or partially audited by different certification bodies, exchange of data necessary for the respective certification activity shall be ensured between such certification bodies.

32. If in the course of the first inspection or other audits the certification body discovers the facts that demonstrate breach of the legislation by the operator that has concluded the agreement with another certification body, the former shall immediately inform the certification body concerned and the territorial body of the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection about the facts mentioned above.
33. In case of changing the certification body, the operator or third party that provides certain services (works) to this operator, including subcontracting (incl. where products are to be processed and returned without change of ownership), shall notify about such change the other certification bodies with whom the respective agreements have been concluded.
34. If the operator changes the certification body, the previous certification body shall transfer to the new certification body documents as regards the operator certification that has been carried out.
35. If the agreement for carrying out certification has been terminated, the certification body shall inform the Ministry of Agrarian Policy accordingly within five working days.

________________________

Annex
to the Procedure

CERTIFICATE No. _______

Product assortment and its status (organic / in-conversion) specified in Annex to the Certificate which is an integral part of the Certificate.

Annex to the Certificate No. __ of __  ____20 __

Product assortment produced by the operator in the process of organic production and / or which is circulated

Electronic version of the Сertificate which contains the actual data can be checked at the website _____________________________________________

 (link / QR code )

________

Note: When filling in the “Product category” field of point 3 of the certificate, state the required product category within the respective organic production branch:

unprocessed agricultural crop products (with the exception of wild flora);

unprocessed wild flora;

live animals or unprocessed livestock products (with the exception of products from beekeeping);

unprocessed products from beekeeping;

aquaculture objects and algae;

food products;

feed;

seeds and planting material.

When filling in the “Activity type” field of point 3 of the certificate, state the required activity type within the respective production branch:

production of agricultural products: primary production, including collection, preparation, handling, mixing, filling, packing, processing, recombination and otherwise changing condition of the products and/or

circulation of agricultural products: marketing (sale) of goods on the customs territory of Ukraine; exportation; importation, moving (transportation) or storing organic products with the view to market (sell) them, except moving or storing the products labelled organic with the view to sell them to the end consumer.

_____________________

APPROVED
by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine
of 21 October 2020, No. 1032

AMENDMENTS
to the Procedure (Detailed Rules) of Organic Production and Circulation of Organic Products

1. In paragraph five of clause 2 after the words “On Fauna” the following shall be added: “, “On Feed Safety and Hygiene”, “On Environmental Impact Assessment”, “On By-products of Animal Origin Not Intended for Human Consumption”.
2. To supplement the Procedure with clauses 2¹ — 2⁶ as follows:

“2¹. Every operator shall maintain general and branch-specific description of its activity.

22. 2². The general description shall be framed by the operator in the form determined by the certification body and shall include information on the following:

1) operator’s activity along with statement and description of all its facilities, including those used for acceptance, handling, packing / re-packing, labelling / re-labelling and storage of products;

2) the range of products manufactured by the operator and/or which are circulating within the category with regard to which the operator intends to certify organic production and/or circulation of organic products;

3) measures that the operator takes or intends to take in order to comply with the legislation in the sphere of organic production, circulation and labelling of organic products, and/or reduce the risk of contamination of organic products with non-authorised substances or products;

4) measures that the operator takes or intends to take to prevent any mixture or exchange of organic products with non-organic ones;

5) production methods (technological processes) that the operator uses or intends to use;

6) transportation of products, including vehicle type and packing type.

In case of importing organic products, the first consignee shall additionally include into the general description information on the facilities used by it to accept and store organic products.

If any third parties are involved into granting particular services (performing work), comprising those granted on the basis of subcontracting (where products are to be processed and returned without change of ownership), necessary for organic production and/or circulation of organic products, the general description of the products shall also include:

the list of third parties including description of their activities and stating the certification bodies with which such third parties have concluded the certification agreement, and their consent;

all practical measures taken to ensure the efficient control system for the products placed on the market by the operator.

The operator shall add to the general description information as follows:

for agricultural land and wild flora collection sites — if applicable, the date of ceasing to use on the respective land plots substances other than those included into the List of substances (ingredients, components) authorized for use in organic production, and which are allowed to be used in the maximum permissible amount, as approved by the Ministry of Economy (hereinafter the list of substances (ingredients, components);

the list of substances from the list of substances (ingredients, components) and/or other substances (ingredients, components) that were used by the operator during the last calendar year and which it plans to use in the next calendar year;

if the agreement with another certification body and/or foreign certification body has been concluded, provide the name of that certification body and/or foreign certification body and specify the respective area of organic production and/or circulation of organic products.

23. 2³. The branch-specific description by organic production branches is made by the operator taking into consideration requirements set by the present Procedure.

The branch-specific description of the operator carrying out circulation of organic products in the part of importation shall include:

range of products that enter the customs territory of Ukraine;

description of all facilities that are used to store products before their delivery to the first consignee;

list of suppliers of organic products that enter the customs territory of Ukraine;

copies of certificates confirming organic production and/or circulation of such organic products, issued by a foreign certification body and by a certification body.

24. 2⁴. The operator can add to the description of the operator any other information confirming its compliance with the legislation in the sphere of organic production, circulation and labelling of organic products, and which can be necessary for certification of organic production.

Description of the operator, upon the certification body’s request, shall include other information that confirms the operator’s compliance with the legislation in the sphere of organic production, circulation and labelling of organic products, and that is necessary for certification of organic production.

25. 2⁵. The operator shall maintain, either in electronic or paper format, registers in the respective area of organic production and/or circulation of products. The register shall be kept in the premises of the respective facility and shall be provided at the request of the certification body.
26. 2⁶. Every operator shall keep and make available upon the certification body’s request documents as follows:

in case of organic production and circulation of organic products — registers and other records on production, procurement, acceptance and storage of products, shipment and payment documents for the delivered products / granted services;

in case of circulation of organic products — shipment and payment documents for the delivered organic products, certificates confirming compliance of organic production and/or circulation of organic products with the legal requirements in the sphere of organic production, circulation and labelling of organic products;

in case of circulation of organic products in the part of import — shipment and payment documents for the imported organic products, the certificate confirming organic production and/or circulation of such organic products in the country of origin, the certificate confirming compliance of such products with the legal requirements in the sphere of organic production, circulation and labelling of organic products, customs documents.

Information as follows falls within the scope of records on production, procurement, acceptance and storage of products:

confirmation of separation of organic and non-organic production;

the amount of collected seaweed that confirms that the whole yield complies with the requirements of organic production and does not exceed the set collection limits, in case of collecting organic seaweed in a common (shared) area with non-organic seaweed;

place, time and method of collection of wild seed — for production of bivalve molluscs;

availability of internal control system of inputs and their further use, including documents stating the name and amount of:

– organic products delivered to the operator;

– all purchased inputs;

– organic products stored at the operator’s storage facilities;

for the operators that do not store organic products in storage facilities or do not work physically with such products: names and amount of the organic products purchased or marketed (sold) by them, as well as their suppliers, buyers and consignees;

for the consignees, if they are not buyers or end consumers: name and amount of products transported to facilities used for further storage and/or preparation of the products before being placed on the market.

The operator shall, upon the certification body’s request, make available other documents confirming compliance of production and/or circulation of organic products with the legal requirements in the sphere of organic production, circulation and labelling of organic products.”.

3. In clause 9 the words “, authorized for use in organic production, and which are allowed to be used in the maximum permissible amount, approved in accordance with the procedure established by law (hereinafter the list of substances (ingredients, components)” shall be excluded.
4. To supplement the Procedure with clause 18¹ reading as follows:

“18¹. The branch-specific description of the operator that carries out organic production and/or circulation of organic products in the sphere of plant production shall include:

1) description of all facilities, including places for storage, processing, packing, and land parcels;

2) annual organic plant production for every land parcel separately, stating its area.”.

5. Sentence three of clause 47 shall be excluded.
6. To supplement the Procedure with clause 80¹ reading as follows:

“80¹. The branch-specific description of the operator that carries out organic production and/or circulation of organic products in the sphere of organic animal husbandry shall include:

description (including area) of housing for keeping animals, pastures, open-air areas and, where relevant, spaces for storage, packing and processing animal products and animals, raw materials and external inputs;

description of sites for storing manure.

Measures that operator takes or intends to take in order to comply with the legislation in the sphere of organic production, circulation and labelling of organic products, and reduce the risk of contamination with non-authorised substances or products in the sphere of organic animal husbandry shall include:

manure spreading plan agreed with the certification body, description of territories designated for plant production (if such activity is carried out) taking into consideration requirements set by the Law of Ukraine “On By-products of Animal Origin Not Intended for Human Consumption”;

cooperation agreements with other operators or other economic entities on the use of surplus manure from organic production (if available);

facility management plan in the sphere of organic animal husbandry.

Facility management plan in the sphere of organic animal husbandry shall include information set out in clause 80 of this Procedure.”.

7. Clause 107 shall read as follows:

“107. If veterinary medicinal products are used, information on the date of treatment, diagnosis, dose and name of the medicinal product shall be provided to the certification body.”.

8. To supplement the Procedure with clause 111¹ reading as follows:

“111¹. The branch-specific description of the operator that carries out organic production and/or circulation of organic products in the sphere of organic beekeeping shall include the list of documents laid down in clause 80¹ of this Procedure, as well as:

the maps in the respective scale, with the list of apiary and beehive location sites and their identification;

measures to ensure due collection, processing, storage and marketing of beekeeping products;

records as regards transportation (moving) of apiaries.

If bees are fed, it is also necessary to indicate type of feed and its amount, date of feeding and the respective beehive number.

If bees undergo veterinary treatment, information as follows shall be recorded: about the veterinary medicinal product, active substances, diagnosis, dosage, method of application of the medicinal product, duration of treatment, withdrawal period, after which the beekeeping products can be considered organic.”.

9. In sentence two of the first paragraph of clause 118 the words “with the Procedure of certification of organic production” shall be replaced by the words and numbers “with clause 189¹ of the present Procedure”.
10. Second paragraph of clause 119 shall be excluded.
11. Clause 154 shall read as follows:

“154. In the case of use of veterinary medicinal products, information on the date of treatment, diagnosis, doses and name of the medicinal product shall be provided to the certification body.”.

12. In paragraph four of clause 182 the words “with the Procedure of certification of organic production” shall be replaced by the words and numbers “with clause 2⁶ of this Procedure”.
13. To exclude the second sentence of paragraph one and paragraphs two and three of clause 186.
14. To supplement the Procedure with clause 189¹ reading as follows:

“189¹. The branch-specific description of the operator that carries out organic production and/or circulation in the sphere of organic aquaculture shall include:

1) description of facilities on land and in fishery water bodies (parts thereof);

2) conclusion based on the environmental impact assessment in the case laid down in clause 119 of this Procedure;

3) annual sustainable management plan developed in compliance with clauses 120, 121, 174, 179 of this Procedure;

4) summary of a separate chapter of the sustainable management plan that contains report on the territory in use (in case of mollusc cultivation).”.

15. In clause 212 the words “with the Procedure of certification of organic production” shall be replaced by the words and numbers “with clause 2⁶ of this Procedure”.
16. To supplement the Procedure with clause 215¹ reading as follows:

“215¹. The branch-specific description of the operator that carries out organic production and/or circulation of organic seaweed shall include:

1) description of facilities on land and in the sea;

2) conclusion from the environmental impact assessment in the cases stipulated in clause 194 of the present Procedure;

3) sustainable management plan for organic seaweed production, developed in compliance with clause 195 of this Procedure.”.

17. In paragraph four of clause 220, after the words “according to”, the words as follows shall be added: “this Procedure and”.
18. To supplement the Procedure with clause s 224¹, 229¹, 239¹ reading as follows:

“224¹. The branch-specific description of the operator that carries out organic production and/or circulation of organic products in the sphere of organic food production (including viticulture products) shall include:

the range of food products produced by the operator;

the list of suppliers of organic ingredients used in the course of organic food production;

ingredients of organic food product produced by the operator.”;

“229¹. The branch-specific description of the operator that carries out organic production and/or circulation in the sphere of organic feed production shall include:

description of all facilities used for acceptance, preparation and storage of the products that are used to prepare output feed at every production stage;

description of all facilities where products used for preparation of feed are stored;

description of all facilities that are used for storage of products for cleaning and disinfection;

description of premixed feed which the operator intends to produce in compliance with the legislation in the sphere of organic production, circulation and labelling of organic products, and the animal species for which this premixed feed is intended (if such activity is carried out);

name of the feed materials which the operator intends to prepare (if such activity is carried out).”;

“239¹. The branch-specific description of the operator that carries out organic production and/or circulation of organic products in the sphere of organic wild flora collection shall include:

information about the granted special authorisations to use natural plant resources and special authorisations to use forest resources;

information about the documents that have been issued as determined by clause 233 of this Procedure;

description of the area where organic wild collection is taking place.”.

19. In paragraph eleven of clause 249 and in paragraph one of clause 250 the words “of the Procedure of certification of organic production” shall be replaced by the words “with the terms of the agreement for certification of organic production between the certification body and the operator”.

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