3. Labelling and Claims

3.1 The labelling and advertising of a product specified in Section 1.1(a) and Section 4.4.1 may refer to organic production methods only where:

- such labelling and advertising shows clearly that it relates to a method of agricultural production, or is imported under the arrangements laid down in Section 7; and

- the product was produced in accordance with the requirements of Section 4, 5 and 6 or imported under arrangements laid down in Section 7; and

- the product was produced, imported or exported by an operator who was subject to an inspection system as set out in Section 7 or Section 9 as appropriate.

- the labelling refers to the person or company legally responsible for the most recent production or processing of the product and the certification body.

3.2 The labelling and advertising of a product specified in paragraph 1.1(b) of Section 1.1(b) may refer to organic production methods only where all of the following are met:

- Such indications show clearly that they relate to a method of agricultural production and are linked with the name of the agricultural produce in question as obtained on the farm.

- All ingredients of agricultural origin of the product are, or are derived form, products obtained in accordance with the requirements of Sections 4, 5 and 9 or imported under the arrangements laid down in Section 7.

- Only substances listed in Section 10 were used during the production phase.

- The same ingredient in a single product was not derived from an organic source and from a source not complying with this Standard.

- Only those substances listed in Section 10, Tables 3, 4 and 5 may be used as ingredients of non-agricultural origin.

- The ingredients and their relative levels appear in descending order (mass/mass) in the list of ingredients.

- The ingredients appear in the same colour and with an identical style and size of lettering as the other ingredients.

- The product or any of its ingredients has not been subjected to treatments involving the use of ionizing radiation or substances not listed in Section 10.

- The product was produced by an operator who is subject to the regular inspection system as set out in Section 9.

3.3 Organically derived ingredients must be used if available.  However, notwithstanding paragraph 3.2, ingredients not satisfying the requirements may be used in the preparation of certain products referred to in Section 1.1 (b) where such ingredients:

- are of agricultural origin and cannot be sourced in sufficient quantities in accordance with the requirements of Sections 4, 5, 6 and 9 or imported under the arrangement laid down in Section 7; and

- do not exceed 5% m/m of the content of the ingredients of agricultural origin, additives and processing aids in the final product; and (water and salt is not included in the percentage calculation)

- are approved by an approved certifying organisation for use either generally with appropriate restrictions or for specific use by a particular operator.

- All ingredients of a multi-ingredient product shall be listed on the product label in order of their weight percentage. It shall be apparent which ingredients are of organic certified origin and which are not. All additives shall be listed with their full name.

3.4 Where there is no organic source of product available, the labelling and advertising of a product as referred to in Section 1.1 (b) which has been prepared partly from non-organic ingredients not satisfying the production requirements of Sections 4, 5, 6 and 9 or imported under the arrangement laid down in Section 7 may not be called organic.  However the word “organic” may be used on the principal display in statements like “made with organic ingredients” provided there is a clear statement of the proportion of the organic ingredients. An indication that the product is covered by the certification body may be used, close to the indication of proportion of organic ingredients.
 The above is allowed provided that all of the following are met:

- At least 70% m/m of the ingredients of agricultural origin satisfy the production requirements of Sections 4, 5, 6 and 9 are imported under the arrangement laid down in Section 7.

- Only those substances listed in Section 10, Tables 3 ,4 and 5 may be used as ingredients of non-agricultural origin.

- The reference to organic production methods is included only in conjunction with the name of the ingredient or ingredients, which satisfy the production requirements of Sections 4, 5 and 6.

- any ingredients not satisfying the production requirements of Section 4, 5 and 6 must be clearly indicated as such

- The product or any of its ingredients has not been subjected to treatments involving the use of ionising radiation.

 - All ingredients and their relative levels appear in descending order (m/m) in the list of ingredients.  It shall be apparent which ingredients are of organic certified origin and which are not. All additives shall be listed with their full name.

- All ingredients appear in the same colour and with an identical style and size of lettering.

- The product was produced by an operator who is subject to the regular inspection system as set out in Section 9.

- AsureQuality may authorize the use of non-organic raw materials subject to periodic review and re-evaluation.

Labelling of Fibre, Textiles and Apparel

3.5 Labelling of textiles follows all above standards regarding labelling of organic food with the exceptions in this section:

- Only substances allowed by the certification body based upon the criteria for textile processing in section 6.7.11 shall be used to process fibre products labelled as “organic.”

- Apparel and other textile products labelled as organic consist of at least 95% by weight organic fibre as described in section 6.7*.

- Textiles may be labelled “made with (…%) organically produced fibres” only if at least 70% of the fibres are organic as described in section 6.7*.

* (Percentages in points 2 and 3 above refer to the total weight of the fibres, and do not include the weight of the non-textile accessories such as buttons and zippers.)

GMO Labelling

3.6 Organic products shall not be labelled as GMO-free in the context of these standards. Any reference to genetic engineering on product labels shall be limited to the production and processing methods themselves having not used GMOs.

Labelling of Product in Transition/Conversion to Organic

3.7 Products of farms in transition to organic production methods may only be labelled as “conversion to organic” after 12 months of production using organic methods providing that:

- The requirements referred to in paragraphs 3.1 and 3.2 are fully satisfied.

- The indications referring to conversion do not mislead the purchaser of the product regarding its difference from products obtained from farms and/or farm units, which have fully, complete the conversion period.

- Such indication take the form of words, such as “product under conversion to organic farming”, or similar words or phrase accepted by the competent authority of the country where the product is marketed, and must appear in a colour, size and style of lettering which is not more prominent than the sales description of the product.

- The product contains only one crop ingredient of agricultural origin.

- The labelling refers to the name and/or the code number of the official or officially approved certification body or authority to which the operator who has carried out the most recent preparation is subject.

Labelling of Non-retail Containers

3.8 The labelling of non-retail containers of product should meet the requirements set out in  Section 9, paragraph 9.2.1.