Certification and labeling of organic products in European countries: experience for Ukraine

Abstract

EU countries are currently one of the leading centers of development of the world market of organic agriculture products. The European countries with the largest sales markets for organic food products are Germany, France (EUR 9.1 billion), Italy (EUR 3.5 billion), Switzerland (EUR 2.7 billion). This activity is regulated in detail by the EU legislation: uniform standards are established in the field of production and processing of organic products, the rules for its marking, and the procedure for certification in this field. As rightly noted in the scientific literature, the detailed legal procedure of organic production is a guarantee of consumer rights protection from unscrupulous producers. In addition, almost every EU country has a fairly extensive system of private certification bodies, as well as its own standards, often stricter than the European ones. All this indicates the prestige of the consumption of organic products by the population and, accordingly, quite significant competition among its producers, who do not just try to comply with EU standards, but constantly improve them by obtaining appropriate national certificates. Unfortunately, in Ukraine, and in pre- war times, such production was not particularly popular. As of December 31, 2021. according to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine (hereinafter referred to as the Ministry of Agrarian Policy), the total area of agricultural land used for organic production and the transition period was 422,299 hectares (1% of the total area of such land in Ukraine), including the area of agricultural land with organic status is 370,110 hectares, the area of the corresponding land in the transition period is 52,189 hectares. The total number of operators was 528, including 418 agricultural producers. But, taking into account the important role of organic farming, especially in the process of greening agriculture, ensuring soil fertility, protecting the environment, its role, especially in the post-war period, should grow. Therefore, the study of the legal regulation of the certification procedure in this area, on the example of the leading European countries, is particularly relevant.