Port enforcement of origin rules for organic products from EU, EEA, Switzerland and Northern Ireland

Any organic products imported from EU, EEA, Switzerland, and Northern Ireland into Great Britain needs to be covered under the terms and scope of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA).

To be accepted into GB as organic, products from EU, EEA or NI must have been either grown/reared in the EU, EEA, or NI, or imported and further processed in the EU, EEA, or NI. Products imported from Switzerland must have been either grown/reared in Switzerland or imported and further processed in Switzerland.

With GB Certificates of Inspections (COI) not required for organic imports from EU, EEA and Switzerland until February 2025, not all consignments have been subject to checks on origin. However, we have been made aware of some ports starting to enforce this requirement leading to some consignments being refused entry. 

We recommend considering this new information before arranging the import of products that may be outside the scope of the TCA. We are in discussions with DEFRA and have contacted key UK ports to clarify the situation.