Author: Timo Mattana
Published: October 26, 2025
Reading Time: 5 minutes
Overview
The EU Commission has identified significant weaknesses in third-country control procedures and is tightening import regulations for organic products. The "Recognized Third Country" and "Recognized Third Country Inspection Body" systems have been fully phased out as of January 1, 2025. Only compliant products under EU Organic Regulation (EU) 2018/848 or equivalent products covered by formal trade deals may now be imported.
Import Regulations Starting January 1st, 2025
The EU Commission modified the electronic Certificate of Inspection (e-COI) form in the Trade Control and Expert System (TRACES) to ensure third-country organic imports conform to new compliance procedures. This mandatory e-COI comprehensively covers all necessary fields for full EU standards compliance.
Certain third countries—including China, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Moldova, Russia, and India—face additional sampling controls performed downstream at the first consignee location in Germany. This procedure continues until further notice per federal agreement.
Key Points for Importers:
- Specialist organic import control falls under the jurisdiction of the state authority performing customs clearance
- Customs only clears consignments upon import
- New regulations significantly impact smallholder farmers globally, requiring them to meet stringent EU standards for exports
- Updates to permitted substances for organic production, including low-risk substance approvals, take effect mid-2025
Changes to Product Inspection
Organic imports from third countries must be notified at least one day before arrival by country authorities. If imports aren't subject to border inspection at destination, appropriate state authorities must be informed via TRACES.NT through mandatory entry of arrival data. The system automatically notifies relevant state authorities once the e-COI is validated.
Inspection Procedures:
- Goods subject to border control: inspected at the border control point
- Goods not subject to border controls: inspected at the border control point or place of release for free circulation by national authority
- Organic import controls must be completed before goods are released as an organic consignment
- Specialized organic import control transferred to local state authorities at year beginning
- All imported organic products must meet identical strict EU production and labeling requirements unless a specific equivalence agreement exists through trade deals
Export of Organic Products from EU to UK (Effective July 1, 2022)
Organic products certified by EG-OKO–VO continue being recognized as equivalent when exported to the UK.
Exporters must obtain a certificate of inspection (GB-Col) for all shipments. The process requires:
- Submitting an application to your certifier for GB-Col issuance
- Including a completed GB-Col draft with accompanying documents
- The certifier issues the document upon approval
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