Guidelines & Standards

Regulations (EC) No 2018/848

The EU rules for organic aquaculture (incl. algae culture) were first introduced in 2009. Production, processing and trade of organic quality products are governed by the EU-Organic-Regulations and subject to official inspection and certification requirements. Thus all producers, processors and traders that want to supply organic certified products to the EU-Market are obliged to apply for organic inspection and certification acc. to the EU-Organic-Regulations. The term “Organic” and related synonyms (e.g. “Bio”) are protected by the EU-Organic-Regulations. Accodingly any fraud might be investigated and stopped by authorities.

Additionally, private label standards can be applied, that may be considered as “higher level” organic certification schemes. The decision on whether to apply for certification according to an additional private label certification is usually based on the company`s marketing strategy. As well the decision largely depends upon the public awareness level of the private organic label in different countries.

Besides the organic regulations several sustainability standards have to be considered. These standards are not governed by EU law. Accordingly the term “sustainable” is not protected by official regulations and law as it is the case with the term “organic”. But anyway products with reference to private label Sustainability Standards are subject to official inspection and certification requirements according to the respective private standards. Products originating from a certified sustainable source are subject to official inspection and certification that refers to the whole Chain of Custody (CoC).