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Change to Certification code and statement of agricultural origin for Northern Ireland

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Change to Certification code and statement of agricultural origin for Northern Ireland

In September 2023 we notified Northern Ireland businesses that the EU Commission were requiring a change to the format of certification codes for Northern Ireland and the timescale for amendment was September 2024. The Northern Ireland Competent Authority (NICA) have confirmed this deadline has been amended to 1st December 2024. They have also provided some additional guidance on labelling in NI which we have detailed below.

Certification code

Businesses in Northern Ireland certified by Soil Association Certification must use the code XI-ORG-05 on their labelling. This replaces the previous code GB-ORG-05, which is now only for use on organic product certified in GB. All new product labelling must use this new code XI-ORG-05. For pre-existing product labelling:

  • For products placed on the market* up to and including 1 December 2024, businesses may continue to use existing labelling with the old GB-ORG-05.

  • From 2 December 2024, all products placed on the market* must be packaged/labelled using the new code.

  • Products that have already been placed on the market (in NI or the EU) before 2 December 2024 do not need to be relabelled and can be sold until stocks are exhausted.

  • If you still have old packaging/labels that you wish to apply to product after 1st December 2024, you must over-sticker the code in order to place the product on the market from 2 December 2024.

* “Placing on the market” is defined in point (8) of Article 3 EC Reg 178/2002: ‘placing on the market’ means the holding of food or feed for the purpose of sale, including offering for sale or any other form of transfer, whether free of charge or not, and the sale, distribution, and other forms of transfer themselves. This means anything packed and labelled available for sale prior to 02/12/24 can be sold until stocks are exhausted. Any product packed/processed/labelled after 1st December 2024 must display the new code.

Statement of agricultural origin

Where the EU logo is used on labelling applied in NI, (required on pre-packed food product), a statement regarding where the agricultural ingredients were farmed must be included to identify if the agricultural ingredients were farmed in the EU or non-EU, (at least 95% of the agricultural ingredients must originate there). If mixed origin can state EU/Non-EU Agriculture (2018/848 Art 32.2).

If all the agricultural ingredients, (at least 95%) have been farmed in Northern Ireland then you may identify them with either of the following:

  • UK (NI) Agriculture

  • United Kingdom (Northern Ireland) Agriculture

  • EU Agriculture

NICA have informed us that the phrase ‘Northern Ireland Agriculture’ alone should not be used. This will apply to goods placed on the market on 2 December 2024 and onwards. So if you have labelling that only states ‘Northern Ireland Agriculture’ it will require amendment.

* “Placing on the market” is defined in point (8) of Article 3 EC Reg 178/2002: ‘placing on the market’ means the holding of food or feed for the purpose of sale, including offering for sale or any other form of transfer, whether free of charge or not, and the sale, distribution, and other forms of transfer themselves.

This means anything packed and labelled available for sale prior to 02/12/24 can be sold until stocks are exhausted. If you have questions, contact our certification team at food.drink@soilassociation.org