First Serbian CB providing certification of products recognised by the EC

The first Serbian certification body (CB), Organic Control System (OCS), was recognised by the European Commission (EC) as a CB performing certification of organic products in line with the EU legislation, whereby organic products from Serbia could be freely exported to and placed on the EU market.

On 20^th June 2013, the EC published in Brussels the updated Equivalence List of CBs Recognised by the EC (Annex 4, EC Regulation 1235/2008) that for the first time included a Serbian CB.

Following the Assessment Report issued by the Accreditation Body of Serbia (ATS) Organic Control System (OCS) applied to the European Commission in order to be put on the Equivalence List of CBs Recognised by the EC in line with the Regulation (EC) 834/2007, Article 33, paragraph 3, and thereby confirmed the competence to perform inspection and certification activities of organic products intended for export to the EU from Serbia. Export to the EU from third countries can only be made possible if these products are certified by a CB that was put on the List.

Recognition of OCS equivalence as the first national CB from Serbia also implied EC recognition of the ATS quality of work as an accreditation body that carried out the assessment. ATS sees this as a challenge to continuous upgrade of the quality of its services.

The said Assessment Report is issued by ATS as part of its new service it developed in cooperation with the GIZ ACCESS Programme. This new service enables ATS to assess CBs providing certification in the field of organic farming for the purpose of applying to the EC to be put on the List, whereas it will be done in keeping with the reference documents and control actions that are equivalent to the EU legislation.