Certification and Legislation
What this domain tests
Domain 2 covers the legal machinery behind the certificate: who regulates, who inspects, what the operator must do, how the product is labelled, and when a product may legally be sold as organic. Practical questions typically ask you to sequence the steps for a specific holding, or to spot a labelling error.
The framework you must name
- Regulation (EU) 2018/848 - the organic Regulation, directly applicable in Cyprus and all Member States, in force since 1 January 2022.
- Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/1165 - lists the authorised products (plant protection, fertilisers, feed, food additives).
- Reg. (EU) 2021/2119 / 2021/2306 - operator documentation and imports.
- Cyprus: the competent authority is the Department of Agriculture (Τμήμα Γεωργίας) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment; private authorised control bodies carry out inspection and certification. A certificate shows the control body's code, e.g. the CY-BIO-xxx format.
Operator obligations
- Notify the activity to a control body before starting.
- Keep records: field register, inputs purchased and applied, livestock register, harvested/ sold quantities, cleaning of stores.
- Accept at least one physical on-site inspection per year, plus risk-based sampling for prohibited residues.
- Renew certification annually; a certificate is not a permanent licence.
- Separate organic and conventional lots physically and in accounts; the mill, packhouse or dairy is a separate certified unit.
Worked example
A farmer planted 3 ha of olive trees in 2019 and wants to sell organic oil from the 2025 harvest. Reasoning: olives are a perennial crop, so the conversion period is three years before the first organic harvest. If the notified, compliant starting date is 1 March 2025, the first harvest that may be sold as organic is the winter 2027/28 crop. Fruit taken in 2025–2027 may only be labelled "in conversion to organic farming", which under 2018/848 is allowed for plant products where at least 12 months of compliance precede harvest. The mill must also hold a certificate before the oil carries the EU leaf logo.
Traps that cost marks
- Confusing the conversion periods: 2 years for annual crops before sowing, 3 years for perennials before first harvest, 2 years for pasture/perennial forage.
- Forgetting that the processor (oil mill, dairy, packhouse) needs its own certification.
- Assuming inspection is occasional or that certification is voluntary.
- Writing "in conversion" on livestock products; the label is limited to plant products.
- Omitting the EU organic logo, the control body code and the place of production on a prepacked label.