Exporting organic products to Italy
Italy has the highest organic share of farmland of any large EU producer, and is simultaneously one of the largest importers of organic raw material. Both facts follow from the same thing: it processes and re-exports at scale.
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. The competent authority is MASAF, the agriculture ministry. ICQRF handles fraud repression and market-stage controls, Accredia is the sole accreditation body, and the Regions and autonomous provinces receive and validate operator notifications.
Italian control body codes take the form IT-BIO-NNN — Codex (IT-BIO-002), Suolo e Salute (IT-BIO-004), ICEA (IT-BIO-006), Bioagricert (IT-BIO-007), CCPB (IT-BIO-009), Valoritalia (IT-BIO-015) among others. Bodies operating only in Bolzano use a different code form.
The Italian organic mark
This is new. The marchio biologico italiano, created by Law 23/2022, was implemented by ministerial decree in 2026. It is owned exclusively by MASAF, voluntary, and additional to the EU leaf.
It is effectively closed to imported raw material. The mark is available only for products carrying the Agricoltura Italia or Acquacoltura Italia origin wording. Applications go through the organic module inside the national agricultural information system.
2) Important voluntary standards and labels
- Demeter Italia — biodynamic; Italy has one of the larger biodynamic sectors in Europe, particularly in wine.
- AIAB and FederBio marks — association standards and sector bodies with real commercial weight.
- Bio Suisse and Naturland — held by Italian processors serving Swiss and German buyers.
- DOP and IGP geographical indications — not organic, but frequently combined with it, and often the more important claim commercially.
Italian household organic spend passed €4.4 billion in 2025 and is still growing. Organic exports were around €3.9 billion in 2024, with third-country organic imports rising in parallel — the signature of a processing and re-export economy.
3) Approved certification and control bodies
Italy has an unusually large number of control bodies, all authorised by MASAF and accredited by Accredia. Re-authorisations under the 2023 legislative decree have been running, so the published list can lag: check the current version rather than a cached PDF.
A non-EU exporter is certified by a control body recognised by the Commission under Article 46 for its country and product category. Several of the large Italian bodies also hold Article 46 recognition for third countries, which is why an Italian certifier may well be the one auditing you.
- MASAF list of control bodies — masaf.gov.it
- SINAB, the national organic information system — sinab.it
4) Import requirements
Standard EU procedure: an electronic COI in TRACES NT for every consignment, endorsed in the country of export before departure.
The Italian-specific step. Every operator must file an electronic notifica di attività con metodo biologico through the SIB module of the national agricultural information system, validated by the Region and by the control body. An annual production programme must be filed and kept updated alongside it. The public national operator register is the tool your buyer will use to check you.
For an exporter of raw material this is the most receptive large market in the EU: Italian processors buy substantial volumes of third-country organic ingredients. Expect them to be exacting about traceability documentation, because their own re-export certificates depend on it.
5) Further information
- MASAF — organic farmingThe competent ministry's organic section, with the national decrees and the new Italian mark.
- SINABThe national organic information system: control bodies, statistics and regulatory updates.
- Public register of organic operatorsWhere an Italian counterparty's notification and certification status can be verified.
- 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