To import organic foodproducts to the UK:

• youyour company must be based in the UK
• an approved UK control body must certify your food and business asto import organic products

You must also followmeet these requirements if you are a ‘first consignee’. This ismeans the first person to receive the imported food.

You maymust needalso afollow certificatethe oflabelling inspectionand (COI)advertising torules importand organicthe food.general This applies even if you’re importing arules product or sample that is not intended for sale.your Yourproduct. controlFind bodyguidance canon:

• importing tellanimal youproducts
• importing whenplants youfrom need a COIEU andcountries
• importing howplants tofrom getnon-EU one.
  countries

Importing organic food from the EU, EEA and Switzerland to Great Britain and Northern Ireland

TheYou UKdo hasnot separatecurrently tradeneed agreementsa withcertificate theof EU,inspection Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein (the European Economic Area, EEA(COI),) andto Switzerlandimport for organic food.

Youfood must check with your approved UK organic control body to find out what you can import into Great Britain and Northern Ireland.Ireland from:

You

• EU do not need a COIcountries
• EEA to import organic food from these countries to(EU, GreatNorway, BritainIceland and Northern Ireland.
  Liechtenstein)
• Switzerland

FromHowever, from 1 February 2027,2027 you will need a COI to import organic food from these countries to Great Britain.

Importing organic food from outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland to Great Britain

To import organic food from outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland into Great Britain, you must:

• get a GBGreat Britain COI for each consignment (even if you’re importing a product or sample that is not intended for sale)
• check that your exporter’s control body and country or territory of export are on the non-UK organic registers

The COI is issued by the exporter’s control body in the country of export.

A consignment is a batch of products that is shipped and handled as one unit. For example, this could be:

• a container of peas from Kenya
• 200 tonnes of wheat and 150 tonnes of barley from Canada, shipped on the same boat and handled by the same operator

To get your COI and advice on how to import organic food, contact your approved UK organic control body.

Importing organic food from outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland to Northern Ireland

To import organic food from outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland to Northern Ireland, you must:

• check with your control body that the organic food can be imported into Northern Ireland
• register and be approved as an importer by your control body on the EU’s Trade Control and Expert System New Technology (TRACES NT)
• get ana EUEuropean Union COI for each consignment through TRACES NT (this applies to businesses importing food, feed and seed into NI, including farms importing feed or seed for their own animals)

Get help

Contact your approved UK organic control body if you have any queries.questions about these rules or which products you can import.