Exporting organic products to the Czech Republic
The Czech national logo is mandatory on domestically certified packaged organic food — and expressly unavailable to product certified abroad. That asymmetry is the thing to understand before designing a label.
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. 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. Every pre-packaged organic product produced in the EU must carry the EU organic logo, the control body code directly beneath it, and an agricultural origin statement — EU Agriculture, non-EU Agriculture or EU/non-EU Agriculture.
Every organic consignment entering the EU needs an electronic Certificate of Inspection (COI) issued and endorsed in TRACES NT, in the country of export, before the goods leave. Third-country operators are certified against EU rules by control bodies the Commission has recognised under Article 46.
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 — is set to expire on 31 December 2026. The Commission has tabled a proposal to extend it, but as at the review date of this page it had not been adopted.
1) Mandatory organic standards and labels
Regulation (EU) 2018/848 applies directly, with national implementation under Act 242/2000 Coll. The competent authority is the Ministry of Agriculture (MZe). ÚKZÚZ carries out state supervision and runs the mandatory organic training; the Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority (SZPI) enforces organic food labelling at processing and retail.
Czech control body codes take the form CZ-BIO-NNN — KEZ (CZ-BIO-001), ABCERT (CZ-BIO-002), Biokont CZ (CZ-BIO-003), Certeko CS (CZ-BIO-008).
The Biozebra
The Czech mark is mandatory, with a hard limit. The Biozebra — the black and white mark reading BIO – produkt ekologického zemědělství — is owned by the ministry and is compulsory on packaged organic food certified in the Czech Republic and sold there. It is optional for export-only packaged goods and for unpackaged goods.
Product certified abroad may not carry it. Imported organic product relies on the EU leaf and the certifier code instead.
Consumer labelling must be in Czech under the national food act, and SZPI enforces that alongside the organic claims.
2) Important voluntary standards and labels
- Demeter — biodynamic, layered on organic certification.
- PRO-BIO — the Czech organic association; membership signals sector standing rather than an additional certification standard.
- Naturland and Bio Suisse — appear on imported product and on Czech goods produced for German and Swiss buyers.
The Czech organic sector is large by area — roughly 17% of farmland — but heavily weighted towards grassland and extensive livestock, so much of the domestic processed organic offer is imported.
3) Approved certification and control bodies
Certification is carried out by private control bodies authorised by the ministry and accredited to ISO/IEC 17065 by the Czech Accreditation Institute. ÚKZÚZ supervises but does not itself certify.
A non-EU exporter is certified by a control body recognised by the Commission under Article 46 for its country and product category.
- Ministry of Agriculture, organic control system — mze.gov.cz
- Register of organic operators (REP) — eagriapp
4) Import requirements
Standard EU procedure: an electronic COI in TRACES NT for every consignment, endorsed before departure. Czech organic certificates have been issued electronically through TRACES since the start of 2023.
Registration is filed with the ministry, and conversion runs from the date the application reaches it — not from the date of inspection, and not from the date of the contract with the control body. A registration fee applies.
For an exporter the practical points are: your Czech buyer must be a registered operator; your product will be sold under the EU leaf rather than the Biozebra; and the label must carry Czech-language consumer information.
5) Further information
- Ministry of Agriculture — organic farmingThe competent authority's organic hub, with Act 242/2000 and the implementing decree.
- Logos and labellingThe Biozebra artwork and the rules on when it must and may not be used.
- ÚKZÚZ — organic farmingState supervision, inspections and the mandatory training requirement.
- Regulation (EU) 2018/848The base act governing organic production, labelling and imports across the EU.
- European Commission — organic farmingPolicy hub, legislation index and guidance on the import regime.
- TRACES NTWhere the electronic Certificate of Inspection for every organic consignment is issued and endorsed.
Last reviewed: 2026-09-06