Date of issue: 03 May 2024
Date of effect: Immediate
Reference Number: MAA2024-04
Attention:
Organic operators and exporters, organic certifying bodies, industry bodies
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry — Central and Regional offices
Purpose:
This Market Access Advice (MAA) is to inform Australian organic operators, exporters and certifiers of the UK Government Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) notification of changes to the Certificate of Inspection (COI) template required to be used from 1 September 2023.
Certificate of Inspection template amendment
The Certificate of Inspection (COI) and extract COI templates and notes have been amended, specifically box 2 to remove redundant tick boxes. This new template should be used for imports into Great Britain (GB) from 1 September 2023. Consignments that have left the country of export before this date will be accepted with the previous COI template.
Box 2 has been amended to remove redundant tick boxes. The remaining two tick boxes are for completion by the exporter’s certification body. The two remaining options in box 2 are:
Council Regulation (EC) No 834/2007:
- Article 33(2) – confirms that the products are imported under Annex III, equivalent third countries.
- Article 33(3) – confirms that the products are certified as equivalent to GB Regulations in the third country and are certified by a control body listed on Annex IV.
The boxes that should be checked will depend on whether the import is from a third country listed on Annex III or is certified by a control body appearing on Annex IV as approved to operate in the third country the products originate from.
GB COI template
A copy of the GB COI template below has been provided by DEFRA.
Download
Great Britain's Certificate of Inspection (PDF 39 KB)
Importing organic produce into Great Britain FAQS (PDF 373 KB)
Guidance: Importing organic products into Great Britain (PDF 214 KB)
If you have difficulty accessing these files, visit web accessibility for assistance.
In addition to this market access advice, please refer to the updated Organics UK Micor page.
Further information
Contact ExportStandards@aff.gov.au or OrganicExports@aff.gov.au if you have any queries.
The information provided above is current at the time of writing and is intended for use as guidance only and should not be taken as definitive or exhaustive. The Commonwealth endeavours to keep information current and accurate, however, it may be subject to change without notice. Exporters are encouraged to verify these details with their importers prior to undertaking production/exports. The Commonwealth will not accept liability for any loss resulting from reliance on information contained in this notice.