Council Regulation (EC) No 834/2007Show full title

TITLE IV U.K. LABELLING

Article 23 U.K. Use of terms referring to organic production

1. For the purposes of this Regulation a product shall be regarded as bearing terms referring to the organic production method where, in the labelling, advertising material or commercial documents, such a product, its ingredients or feed materials are described in terms suggesting to the purchaser that the product, its ingredients or feed materials have been obtained in accordance with the rules laid down in this Regulation. In particular, the terms listed in the Annex, their derivatives or diminutives, such as ‘bio’ and ‘eco’, alone or combined, may be used F1 ... for the labelling and advertising of products which satisfy the requirements set out under or pursuant to this Regulation.

In the labelling and advertising of live or unprocessed agricultural products terms referring to the organic production method may be used only where, in addition, all the ingredients of that product have also been produced in accordance with the requirements laid down in this Regulation.

2. The terms referred to in paragraph 1 shall not be used F2 ... for the labelling, advertising and commercial documents of a product which does not satisfy the requirements set out under this Regulation, unless they are not applied to agricultural products in food or feed or clearly have no connection with organic production.

Furthermore, any terms, including terms used in trademarks, or practices used in labelling or advertising liable to mislead the consumer or user by suggesting that a product or its ingredients satisfy the requirements set out under this Regulation shall not be used.

3. The terms referred to in paragraph 1 shall not be used for a product for which it has to be indicated in the labelling or advertising that it contains GMOs, consists of GMOs or is produced from GMOs according to [F3 retained EU law].

4. As regards processed food, the terms referred to in paragraph 1 may be used:

(a) in the sales description, provided that:

(i)

the processed food complies with Article 19;

(ii)

at least 95 % by weight, of its ingredients of agricultural origin are organic;

(b) only in the list of ingredients, provided that the food complies with Article 19(1), 19(2)(a), 19(2)(b) and 19(2)(d);

(c) in the list of ingredients and in the same visual field as the sales description, provided that:

(i)

the main ingredient is a product of hunting or fishing;

(ii)

it contains other ingredients of agricultural origin that are all organic;

(iii)

the food complies with Article 19(1), 19(2)(a), 19(2)(b) and 19(2)(d).

The list of ingredients shall indicate which ingredients are organic.

In the case where points (b) and (c) of this paragraph apply, the references to the organic production method may only appear in relation to the organic ingredients and the list of ingredients shall include an indication of the total percentage of organic ingredients in proportion to the total quantity of ingredients of agricultural origin.

The terms and the indication of percentage referred to in the previous subparagraph shall appear in the same colour, identical size and style of lettering as the other indications in the list of ingredients.

F4 5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

F5 6. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Textual Amendments

F1 Words in Art. 23(1) omitted (31.12.2020) by virtue of The Organic Production and Control (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/693), regs. 1(2), 2(12)(a); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

F2 Words in Art. 23(2) omitted (31.12.2020) by virtue of The Organic Production and Control (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/693), regs. 1(2), 2(12)(b); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

F3 Words in Art. 23(3) substituted (31.12.2020) by The Organic Production and Control (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/693), regs. 1(2), 2(12)(c); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

F4 Art. 23(5) omitted (31.12.2020) by virtue of The Agriculture (Legislative Functions) (EU Exit) (No. 2) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/831), regs. 1(4)(a), 80; 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

F5 Art. 23(6) omitted (31.12.2020) by virtue of The Agriculture (Legislative Functions) (EU Exit) (No. 2) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/831), regs. 1(4)(a), 80; 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

Article 24 U.K. Compulsory indications

1. Where terms as referred to in Article 23(1) are used:

(a) the code number referred to in Article 27(10) of the control authority or control body to which the operator who has carried out the most recent production or preparation operation is subject, shall also appear in the labelling;

[F6 (b) any UK organic logo as required by the appropriate authority in accordance with Article 25(3) must also appear on the packaging;

(c) an indication of the place where the agricultural raw materials of which the product is composed have been farmed must also appear on the packaging and must take one of the following forms, as appropriate—

(i) ‘UK Agriculture’, where the agricultural raw material has been farmed in the United Kingdom;

(ii) ‘non-UK Agriculture’, where the agricultural raw material has been farmed in third countries;

(iii) ‘UK/non-UK Agriculture’, where a part of the agricultural raw materials has been farmed in the United Kingdom and a part of it has been farmed in a third country.]

The abovementioned indication [F7 ‘UK’] or [F7 ‘non-UK’] may be replaced or supplemented by a country in the case where all agricultural raw materials of which the product is composed have been farmed in that country.

For the abovementioned [F7 ‘UK’] or [F7 ‘non-UK’] indication, small quantities by weight of ingredients may be disregarded provided that the total quantity of the disregarded ingredients does not exceed 2 % of the total quantity by weight of raw materials of agricultural origin.

The abovementioned [F7 ‘UK’] or [F7 ‘non-UK’] indication shall not appear in a colour, size and style of lettering more prominent than the sales description of the product.

[F8 The indication referred to in the first subparagraph is optional for products moving from Northern Ireland to Great Britain and products imported from third countries.]

2. The indications referred to in paragraph 1 shall be marked in a conspicuous place in such a way as to be easily visible, clearly legible and indelible.

3. The [F9 appropriate authority may, by regulations], lay down specific criteria as regards the presentation, composition and size of the indications referred to in paragraph 1(a) and (c).

Textual Amendments

F6 Art. 24(b)(c) substituted (1.1.2021) by The Organic Production (Organic Indications) (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1669), regs. 1, 2(2)(a)

F7 Words in Art. 24(1) substituted (1.1.2021) by The Organic Production (Organic Indications) (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1669), regs. 1, 2(2)(b)

F8 Words in Art. 24(1) substituted (1.1.2021) by The Organic Production (Organic Indications) (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1669), regs. 1, 2(2)(c)

F9 Words in Art. 24(3) substituted (31.12.2020) by The Agriculture (Legislative Functions) (EU Exit) (No. 2) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/831), regs. 1(4)(a), 81; 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

Article 25 U.K. Organic production logos

F10 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

[F11 2. In addition to any UK organic logo which the appropriate authority may require to appear on the packaging of organic products in accordance with this Article and Article 24, private and national logos may be used in the labelling, presentation and advertising of products which satisfy the requirements set out in this Regulation.]

3. The [F12 appropriate authority may, by regulations], lay down specific criteria as regards presentation, composition, size and design of [F13 any organic production logo].

Textual Amendments

F10 Art. 25(1) omitted (1.1.2021) by virtue of The Organic Production (Organic Indications) (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1669), regs. 1, 2(3)(a)

F11 Art. 25(2) substituted (1.1.2021) by The Organic Production (Organic Indications) (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1669), regs. 1, 2(3)(b)

F12 Words in Art. 25(3) substituted (31.12.2020) by The Agriculture (Legislative Functions) (EU Exit) (No. 2) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/831), regs. 1(4)(a), 82(a); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

F13 Words in Art. 25(3) substituted (31.12.2020) by The Agriculture (Legislative Functions) (EU Exit) (No. 2) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/831), regs. 1(4)(a), 82(b); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

Article 26 U.K. Specific labelling requirements

The [F14 appropriate authority may, by regulations] establish specific labelling and composition requirements applicable to:

(a)

organic feed;

(b)

in-conversion products of plant origin;

(c)

vegetative propagating material and seeds for cultivation.

Textual Amendments

F14 Words in Art. 26 substituted (31.12.2020) by The Agriculture (Legislative Functions) (EU Exit) (No. 2) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/831), regs. 1(4)(a), 83; 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)