«Organic Standard» – is the business based on the reputation

«Organic Standard» – is the business based on the reputation
–First of all how did the “Organic Standard” appear? When and why did the need of appearance the certified authority arise?

– “Organic Standard” LLC was founded in 2007 as the first local authority of inspection and certification of organic production and circulation of organic products in Ukraine. It was created with the purpose to develop organic market in Ukraine, and also to give the access to organic certification to small and medium companies within the framework of the Swiss-Ukrainian project of “Organic Certification and Development of Organic Market in Ukraine” that was implemented by Research Institute for Organic Agriculture (FIBL, Switzerland) with the financial support of the Swiss Confederation.

Obtaining the IOAS accreditation according to the ISO Guide Standard 17065 in 2009, “Organic Standard” gained the international acceptance. It is still the sole Ukrainian authority of Organic Products Certification, accepted by the European Union and Switzerland.

–How many authorities carry out certification? Is it difficult to be such organization and pass the accreditation?
Currently in Ukraine there are 20 authorities that carry out the certification for compliance with EU organic standards but the only one with Ukrainian residence permit – “Organic Standard”. To pass the accreditation or to gain the approval is not easy (in ES or Switzerland), but it is much more difficult to develop organization in the way to make it known, with a good reputation and trusted. It takes years.

“Organic Standard” provides inspection and certification services to more than 500 operators in Ukraine, it is approximately 75% of all organic operators in the country. Besides, the company controls the significant amount of operators in Belarus and Kazakhstan.

Whereas most of our clients oriented on the international market, “Organic Standard” became the important player of certified services for the export. Clients of the Company annually export nearly 100 – 160 thousand of tons of products under the control of “Organic Standard” over 2.5 thousand of export deliveries annually. Simultaneously, we help national manufacturers to develop the local market.

– How exactly do you help manufacturers to develop new markets?
–We carry out vary trainings, including trade networks, promote organic products and promote producers, take an active part in working groups, in particular, at the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Economic Development, in the "Organic Initiative", attract new active players in the organic sector, including providing services, technologies, etc.
Besides, working closely together with such organizations as “Enterprise and Export Development Office”, Import Promotion Desk, Germany, also with Swiss-Ukrainian program of “Organic Certification and Development of Organic Market in Ukraine” and the project of “Eastern Partnership: Willingness to Trade - EU4BUSINESS initiative”, “Organic Standard”helps in every way to promote Ukrainian organic goods on international markets, and Ukrainian exporters to find their buyers.

The most iфmportant asset of “Organic Standard” is its reputation based on the main values of the company: cooperation, competence, responsibility, confidentiality, reliability, efficiency, and objectivity.

– In what cases, except export, the companies do decide contact you?
– Also when they want to engage in organic production and sell their product as organic in the domestic market.
– What benefits do the certification give to the manufacturer?

– The "value" of the product is created. It is not necessarily the best price. This can be a premium policy or entering a new market, or the opportunity to work with new partners, or even to diversify your product line and be prepared for possible risks or any unforeseen situations with demand.

–I know a lot of farms, developing organic products, but soon stopped, giving a reason: “there is no sense”. Why do producers refuse organic, in your opinion?
–Usually because they came with the belief that you can make easy money here (maybe they were told so or they thought so for some reason). It happens. And this is the same complex business as others. It will not be easy, you need to work hard. There are many successful projects that have proven this.
Why do producers choose your company for certification? What is your peculiarity?

Because we:

  • communicate with manufacturers in one language;
  • understand our client and his needs;
  • have internal competence and many years of experience, ready to answer all questions and solve all problems;
  • the client has access to us, as we have offices in Ukraine, personalized communication with our staff and certification coordinators;
  • clear prices, they are low and the client knows them in advance;
  • operational experience in exports (over 2500 export transactions annually), etc.
– What innovations and projects are you planning in the near future
– We introduce batch certification simultaneously according to several organic standards, respectively several certificates as a result of one process. In addition, we plan certification according to safety standards (GlobalGAP, FSSC 22000, GMP +). In addition, we try to digitalize the certification process as much as possible and make services more convenient.

Certificate

”Organic Standard” gives:

  • Inspection and certification services in Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan;
  • certification services in accordance with the standard of the International Accredited Certification Bodies for Organic Production and Processing, which is equivalent to the Council Regulations (EU) on Organic Production and Processing, Canada Organic Regime (COR), Danube and European Soybeans;
  • inspection services according to the Bio Suisse, Naturland, KRAV.

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