National system of certification of organic production introduced in Ukraine
In October 2020 Ukraine took an important step towards the shaping of appropriate legislation in the field of organic production. Thus, the Government has adopted the Procedure for Certification of Organic Production and/or Circulation of Organic Products (Resolution №1032), which has been developed taking into account the requirements of EU legislation.
The document defines the rules of certification of organic production and/or circulation of organic products, as well as the procedure for issuing a certificate, its duplicate and form.
Given that Ukraine is a leading supplier of organic products to foreign markets, the introduction of the domestic certification system will enhance Ukraine's image in the world trade arena. In addition, it will contribute to the sustainable development of the domestic organic sector, increasing the transparency of production and saturating the domestic market with organic products.
It should be noted that in 2019 Ukraine ranked 1st in Europe and 2nd in the world (out of 123 countries) in terms of exports of organic products to the EU, rising two points compared to the previous year. This is stated in the annual report of the European Commission "EU Imports of Organic Agri-Food Products: Key Developments in 2019" https://bit.ly/3o8OFNY .
In addition, Resolution №1032 amended the Procedure (detailed rules) for organic production and circulation of organic products (Resolution №970). In particular, the rules are supplemented by provisions defining the requirements for documentation of their activities, which is a prerequisite for the certification of production as organic.
Background
According to the monitoring of the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture in 2020, it was established that in 2019 the total area of organic land amounted to 468 thousand hectares (1.1% of the total area of agricultural land in Ukraine), which is by 20% more than in 2018. At the same time, there were 617 operators of the organic market, 470 of them were agricultural producers.