EU recognition for UK organics sector

22 January 2021

The NFU has welcomed the news that the agreed UK-EU trade deal includes an agreement on organic equivalence, meaning the EU has agreed to recognise the UK as equivalent for organics until 31^st December 2023. This is further to the European Commission’s decision that the UK’s six organic certification bodies will be recognised as having equivalent organic standards.

Recognition by the EU of the UK’s organic sector will ensure continued access to vital EU and Northern Irish markets and bring certainty to producers.

NFU organic forum chair Andrew Burgess said:

NFU organic forum chair Andrew Burgess said: “Exports to the EU have and always will be an important part of the UK organic supply chain and to be able to continue to export to that key market is a huge relief.
“We welcome the news that the trade deal included a technical annex on organic equivalence, meaning the EU and UK have agreed equivalency in organics until 31^st December 2023. This will provide longer-term certainty for those organic businesses who have been concerned about losing this valuable export market.”

The UK is the world’s ninth largest organic market and sales of organic produce to the EU are worth £225m every year.

More from NFUonline:

Guidance from AHDB

Food, farming and agriculture after EU exit

Ask us a question about this page

Once you have submitted your query someone from NFU CallFirst will contact you. If needed, your query will then be passed to the appropriate NFU policy team.