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Exporting organic products to Belgium

Belgium applies the EU regime, but administers it regionally. Which rules and which control bodies apply to an operator depends on whether it sits in Flanders, Wallonia or Brussels.

The EU framework that applies

Organic production, labelling and imports across the EU are governed by Regulation (EU) 2018/848, applicable since 1 January 2022, when it replaced Regulation (EC) 834/2007. National authorities administer and enforce it; they do not set their own organic standard.

Processed food may be labelled organic only where at least 95% of its agricultural ingredients by weight are organic, with the remainder drawn from the authorised list in the implementing rules.

What must appear on the label

  • The EU organic logo — the leaf of twelve white stars on green. Compulsory on pre-packaged organic food produced in the EU; optional on imported product.
  • The control body code, placed directly below the logo, in the format XX-BIO-NNN — ISO country code, then BIO or its national-language equivalent, then a three-character reference.
  • The agricultural origin statement below the code: EU Agriculture, non-EU Agriculture or EU/non-EU Agriculture. A country name may be used instead where at least 98% of the agricultural raw material comes from that country.

Getting a consignment in

Every organic consignment entering the EU needs an electronic Certificate of Inspection (COI) issued and endorsed in TRACES NT, under Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2306. Extracts are used where a consignment is split. The COI is issued in the country of export before the goods leave — it cannot be obtained afterwards.

There are two routes in. Under the compliance regime (Article 46), operators in third countries are certified against EU rules by control bodies the Commission has recognised, listed in Annex II of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/2325 and amended by implementing act. Under the older equivalence regime, product may enter from a recognised third country listed in Annex I of the same regulation.

A deadline worth watching. Recognition of the eleven remaining equivalent third countries — Argentina, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, India, Israel, Japan, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Tunisia and the United States — together with the Annex II equivalence listings, is set to expire on 31 December 2026.

The Commission has tabled proposal COM(2025) 780 to extend that deadline, but as at the review date of this page it had not been adopted. Anyone sourcing from those eleven origins should confirm the current legal position before contracting for delivery beyond that date.

1) Mandatory organic standards and labels

Regulation (EU) 2018/848 applies directly. Competence for organic production is regionalised — there is no single federal organic authority. Border and food-safety controls are federal, run by the FASFC/AFSCA.

Belgian control body codes take the form BE-BIO-NN — for example BE-BIO-01 (Certisys), BE-BIO-02 (TÜV Nord Integra), BE-BIO-03 (Quality Partner).

National logo

There is no official Belgian state organic logo. The compulsory EU leaf, the control body code and the origin statement carry the legal message. Biogarantie is a private mark, not a state one.

2) Important voluntary standards and labels

  • Biogarantie — the best-known Belgian organic mark, privately owned and widely recognised in Belgian retail. It goes beyond the EU regulation, notably on packaging and social criteria.
  • Demeter — biodynamic, on top of organic certification.
  • EKO and other neighbouring-market marks appear on imported product, particularly from the Netherlands.

Belgian retail is split between Dutch-speaking and French-speaking buying, and the private marks that carry weight differ accordingly. Biogarantie is the one that travels across both.

3) Approved certification and control bodies

Control bodies are approved by the region in which the operator is established, and each region publishes its own list.

A non-EU exporter is certified by a control body recognised by the Commission for its country and product category under Article 46, not by a Belgian body.

4) Import requirements

Standard EU procedure: an electronic COI in TRACES NT for every consignment, endorsed before departure. Import consignments are handled at the border control post by AFSCA, the federal food safety agency.

Check your buyer's region. Approval of control bodies and the detail of the implementing rules differ between Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels. The applicable regime follows the seat of the Belgian operator, so confirm which regional authority supervises your importer before assuming a control body is valid for it.

Belgium is a major transit and re-export hub through Antwerp and Zeebrugge. Product that merely transits without further processing does not acquire EU origin, and the third-country route still applies to it.

5) Further information

Last reviewed: 2026-09-06