A Comparative Study On Organic Product Standards, Certification And Accreditation Systems Between China And Eu

International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements Basic Standard for Organic Production and Processing (IBS) reflects the current state of organic production and processing methods of organic farming. IBS provides a framework for certification bodies and standard setting organizations worldwide to develop their own certification standards. EU has the world's most sophisticated organic product standard and system. EU is a major importer and consumption market of organic products. While the development of organic farming in China is relatively late, and some parts of GB/T 19630 are not perfect, the Chinese organic products are not approved by the EU countries which made it more difficult to be exported abroad. This study analyzed and compared the gap of organic product standards, certification and accreditation systems between China and EU. Then China could learn from EU experiences in revising GB/T 19630 and improving its system. Ultimately China will be listed in the EU import third countries list, and Chinese exported products could be marketed in the EU as organic. The study could also promote China's organic agriculture and product future standardize, marketization, internationalization, and enhance China organic agricultural products in international market competition, and insure the health and sustainable development of organic fanning in China.This study discussed the history and trend of IBS based on the versions that IFOAM issued over the past decade. The study compared China organic product standard with EU organic product standard on IBS platform based on their current versions in crop production, animal husbandry, bee keeping, aquaculture production, food processing. Then the study provided specific recommendations for the amendment of GB/T 19630 through the similarities and differences between the two and the reasons. The study also compared organic certification and accreditation system between China and EU based on their related documents in laws and regulations, supervision system, labeling, accreditation procedure, certification procedure. Then the study provided recommendations for the development of China organic certification and accreditation system through the similarities and differences between the two. The main conclusions are as follows.1. The development direction of IBS:IBS should be towards a way which leads to a broader ranger, more coherent structure and more quantitative content; otherwise it is difficult for IBS to achieve further progress.2. There are many differences between China and EU organic certification standards in general:1) Different in nature:GB/T 19630 is a technical standard, while the EU organic standards are regulations, which are the combination of technical standards and the legislation.2) Different in component:GB/T 19630 had four parts which were production, processing, labeling and sales, management system according to the product chain of organic farming; while EU organic standards take Council Regulation (EC) 834/2007 as the center, other Commission Regulations as implementation detail rules and supplementary standards.3) Different in structure:crop production, mushroom cultivation, livestock and poultry production, bees and bee products are at the same level in GB/T 19630, while in EU organic product standard plant cultivation and mushroom cultivation belonged to the crop production, and bee keeping and livestock and poultry production belonged to animal husbandry.4) Different in coverage:GB/T 19630.2 "organic processing" applies to organic food and textiles, while the EU organic processing standards doesn't apply to textiles.5) Different in the location of the normative references:The normative documents in GB/T 19630 were cited in the beginning, while in EU organic standards were scattered in the endnotes of each page.6) Different in definition:Definitions are different in its number and focus.3. The same and different points in the content of organic product standards between China and EUBoth China and EU organic standards are developed on the basis of IBS, so the principles and general requirements of them are all consistent with IBS, but the specific details requirements of the two are quite different as the following three conditions:1) Requirements mentioned in China organic standard and not mentioned in EU organic standard, such as producing environment, buffer zones, habitat, honey extraction and storage;2) Requirements mentioned in EU organic standard and not mentioned in China organic standard, such as seed database, livestock manure limit, list of organic animal feed and feed additives, special standards for seaweed, shellfish and yeast;3) The conflict requirements between China and EU organic standards, such as the use of human waste, transgenic animal medicine, queen bee artificial insemination, the external inputs (including fertilizers, plant protection products, food additives and processing aids).4. The same and different points in the organic certification and accreditation systems between China and EU1) In legal effect, technical standards and administrative standards were separation in China, while they were combination in EU.2) Different in regulatory systems:organic regulatory system in China was divided into three levels, in EU was divided into four levels.3) Different in organic labeling:the EU organic products did not use national organic logo, and the EU Member States uniform application of EU organic logo, while China used its national logos. China had both the organic labeling and organic conversion labeling, while the EU did not have the organic conversion labeling. For the products with organic ingredients below 95%, China and EU had different conditions and requirements in labeling.4) There is no appreciable difference in accreditation process between China and EU.5) There is no appreciable difference in certification process between China and EU.