GB Certificates of Inspection – where next?
Brexit four years on
This Christmas Eve will see the fourth anniversary of the EU>UK Trade & Cooperation Agreement (TCA) and the introduction of additional EU border controls for organic products.
GB exporters and their customers who battle the additional red tape to ensure trade in controlled organic products could continue, will now be familiar with the EU’s TRACES NT system. Since December 2020, they will have been registering every consignment of organic goods on the TRACES system, to ensure their organic products passed EU border controls.
Pre-Brexit the EU based their acceptance of organic goods from non-EU nations on either country-specific equivalency agreements, or where these were non-existent, recognition of specific in-county certifiers. However, Brexit would bring a new method of equivalency, with the EU for the first time establishing reciprocal acceptance of organic via a trade agreement.
Whilst a neat solution, this approach would see the merging of both organic equivalency and rules of origin (RoO). In practice, this would mean a new restriction on organic movements not anticipated pre-Brexit, as the EU could now only accept regulated organic products as ‘organic’ if they were grown, or further processed in the UK.
Four years of asymmetrical trade
In 2021, the UK believed it had found a way round this restriction. With the introduction of recognition of individual UK certifiers within the EU regulations, a mechanism for EU acceptance of organic from GB was established and we were free of the problematic rule of origin. Those who remember Soil Association's BIO-142 labelling and its subsequent disbandment will recall how short-lived this solution was. In early 2022, the EU published new organic regulations and UK certifiers were removed from the annexes that enabled this additional method of recognition and we were back to working with the TCA.
A lack of organic-specific commodity codes means that exact figures on UK imports are hard to determine, however, surveys have long indicated a significant imbalance in UK<>EU organic trade. With the UK historically very dependent on EU traders for organic ingredients, the prospect of introducing the same border controls as the EU looked unattractive. A significant proportion of the goods imported by the UK would be from the EU, but not grown or processed in the EU. To the relief of many, the UK decided not to implement organic Certificates of Inspection (CoIs) for goods from the EU /EEA. As there have to-date been no GB COIs for EU certifiers to endorse, there has been no security of good origin, so goods not within scope of the TCA have continued to move into GB ports.
A further period of grace
Despite insistence from the UK government that this would all have to end in February 2025, last Friday (Sept 13th ) Defra announced a further extension of the COI grace period, confirming that these would not now be required until 2027. If you’re a UK business facing challenges exporting to the EU, or a business importing goods from outside the EU hoping to find new customers, you may not have welcomed the news.
We know from surveys (the findings of which we shared with UK Gov) of our licensees that many were concerned about the future viability of organic trade, and were unclear how they would go about adjusting their supply chain to meet the new requirements. For such businesses facing loss of supply, extra costs, and in some cases contemplating whether to continue to trade organic, the news will have come as a relief. From our regular interactions with EU organic trade bodies, we know it has come as a relief to EU businesses also, as there was significant potential for GB COIs to be a lose-lose moment for UK and EU trade.
Even if the UK’s dependency on EU supply and potential for wider sector impacts are overlooked, there was one other key factor that lent itself to consideration of a further delay to GB COIs - namely lack of preparedness. Prior to Defra’s announcement, the absence of any clarification on the readiness of electronic controls, processes or even training provisions this close to the deadline was the chief concern for licensees we surveyed and spoke to.
In addition to our engagement with licensees, EU trade bodies, and trade press, we wasted no time in addressing this critical issue at numerous Defra meetings and in correspondence with the new Secretary of State.
What's next?
While the UK government has bought itself time to implement GB COIs in an orderly and timely fashion and the prospect of a sudden reduction in EU to GB trade has been pushed to the middle distance again, we should not be complacent. If UK organic is to avoid finding itself back here in 2026, momentum should not be lost.
Not only will we continue to work with other stakeholders to press the UK government for a more definitive timeline on preparedness, but we will also continue to present policymakers with potential solutions. The preferred route would be to see the UK and EU revisit the possibility of adjusted equivalency arrangements that avoid the unnecessary barriers to organic acceptance for those who want to trade goods of non-EU origin through the EU – and are prepared to pay tariffs. This would both make a wider range of goods from the EU tradable and ensure GB based exporters to the EU can trade on equal terms. If this isn’t possible, then as minimum we should explore changes to GB regulations and procedures to enable GB importers to continue to import perfectly organic goods from the EU indefinitely, regardless of production or process in the EU.
As the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of EU Agriculture released only two days before this latest extension acknowledges, organic agriculture has much to offer to address the big challenges in food and agriculture. We owe it not just to businesses but to people, nature, and planet not to unnecessarily obstruct trade in products that demonstrably deliver so much public good.
