Canada Organic Regime
Under the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SFCR), any food, seed, or animal feed that is labelled organic is regulated by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).
Compliance with Part 13 organic products of the SFCR is required if the product:
- has an organic claim on the label and is sold between provinces or territories or imported; or
- displays the Canada Organic Logo on the label and is sold within or outside of Canada.
Under Part 13 of the SFCR, products must be certified as organic according to the Canadian Organic Standards. The SFCR also outlines the organic certification system known as the Canada Organic Regime. The purpose of the Canada Organic Regime is to regulate all parties involved in the certification of organic products (including operators, Certification Bodies and Conformity Verification Bodies) and to verify all applicable regulatory requirements, standards and guidance documents are being met.
US-Canada Organic Equivalence Arrangement (US-COEA)
Please note the USCOEA covers the accreditation system of both regulations in its geographical entirety. Agricultural products certified in accordance with the terms of the USCOEA are eligible for sale as organic in both countries. The product being traded under this arrangement does not have to originate within either country.
United Kingdom-Canada Organic Equivalence Arrangement (UKCOEA)
This equivalence arrangement covers organic agricultural products of UK or Canadian origin and means that organic products certified under the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) Canada Organic Regime or UK organic system may be sold and labelled as organic in both Canada and the UK.
As long as the product is certified by a CFIA accredited certification body (CB) in Canada or by an UK approved control body, this recognition eliminates the need for UK organic agricultural products to have a separate certification to the Canadian standards, and vice versa.
IFOAM Accreditation
IFOAM – Organics International is a non-profit organisation with headquarters in Bonn, Germany. Founded in 1972 as the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) a membership organisation to represent the global organic movement promoting and lobbying for wider adoption of organic production, it remains true to that mission today.
European Recognition Programme
The Organic Unit of the Directorate General Agriculture (DG AGRI) of the European Commission is the scheme owner working with the European Parliament and Member State authorities. The regulation (EC) 834 of 2007 provides the framework for the rules on the production and sale of organic products in Europe including imports.
