Exporting organic products to Switzerland
Switzerland has no national organic logo. What it has instead is Bio Suisse — a private standard that is stricter than the ordinance, and in practice the thing that decides whether you can sell.
1) Mandatory organic standards and labels
Three federal ordinances form the mandatory regime: the Organic Farming Ordinance (Bio-V, SR 910.18), the EAER Ordinance on Organic Farming (SR 910.181) with the permitted inputs and processing aids, and the FOAG Ordinance (SR 910.184), which is the import instrument — its Annex 1 lists recognised countries and Annex 2 the certification bodies FOAG recognises directly.
There is no official Swiss national organic label. Only certified products may use Bio or organic, and private organic labels must comply with the ordinance — but the state itself issues no mark. The market therefore runs on private marks over a state legal baseline.
Bio and organic are legally protected terms. Processed food must contain at least 95% organic agricultural ingredients. Swiss certification body codes take the form CH-BIO-0NN.
Swiss terminology has been progressively aligned with EU Regulation (EU) 2018/848, and several derogations in the ordinance carry fixed end dates — check the current consolidated text for the product you are shipping.
2) Important voluntary standards and labels
Bio Suisse is the commercial gate, not the ordinance. For most product categories, meeting the Swiss ordinance gets you legally admissible; meeting Bio Suisse gets you sold.
- Bio Suisse Knospe (the Bud) — the dominant Swiss organic mark. Its standards go materially beyond the state ordinance and beyond EU rules: a whole-farm approach with no split operations, mandatory biodiversity areas, strict fertiliser and copper limits, plus social responsibility, water management and tropical permanent crop requirements for imports.
- BIOSUISSE ORGANIC (BSO) — the designation for foreign operations certified to Bio Suisse standards for the Swiss market. This is the one an exporter actually needs.
- Demeter Switzerland — biodynamic, stricter again and layered on organic certification.
- Coop Naturaplan and Migros Bio — retailer lines built on Bud and state certification rather than independent standards, but commercially decisive in Swiss grocery.
3) Approved certification and control bodies
Inside Switzerland there are exactly four accredited certification bodies:
| Body | Code | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| bio.inspecta AG, Frick | CH-BIO-006 | Organic agriculture; processing and trading of organic food and feed |
| Bio Test Agro AG (BTA), Münsingen | CH-BIO-086 | Organic agriculture |
| Ecocert Swiss AG, Kreuzlingen | CH-BIO-004 | Processing and trading of organic food and feed |
| ProCert AG, Bern | CH-BIO-038 | Processing and trading of organic food and feed |
Outside Switzerland, for countries on the Swiss list, the bodies named in Annex 1 of SR 910.184 apply. For everywhere else Switzerland refers to the EU's list — a body recognised by the EU for a given country and product category is thereby recognised for the Swiss market. FOAG additionally recognises a small number of bodies itself in Annex 2.
For Bio Suisse specifically the arrangement is different again: inspection abroad is carried out by the operation's local organic inspection body, while certification against Bio Suisse standards is issued by Swiss bodies — principally ICB AG, the Bio Suisse subsidiary, and bio.inspecta.
4) Import requirements
Any Swiss company that produces, processes, trades or imports organic products is inspected at least annually by one of the four accredited Swiss bodies.
Certificate of inspection
Under Article 24 of the Bio-V, every consignment of imported organic product must be accompanied by a Certificate of Inspection. The electronic COI in the EU's TRACES system is mandatory, so Swiss importers and first consignees must be registered in TRACES — their certification body handles the onboarding. The COI is issued in the country of origin before the goods leave.
The exception most EU suppliers use: no COI is required for consignments from EU member states, provided the goods were customs-cleared in the EU.
Equivalence
The Switzerland–EU agricultural agreement covers organics, giving effectively free circulation for organic labelling in both directions. Mutual recognition is also in place with Canada, the United States, Chile, the United Kingdom and Japan, the last having been extended to cover organic livestock and processed foods of animal origin. Annex 1 of SR 910.184 also lists a set of unilaterally recognised countries.
The Bio Suisse import layer
Usually the binding constraint in practice:
- Bio Suisse permits import only of foodstuffs that cannot be produced in Switzerland, or not in sufficient quantity. There is a published approval list for import products and a list of permitted origins.
- Bud goods may only be imported by a Swiss importer holding a valid Bio Suisse licence contract. Typically the Swiss importer applies for its suppliers to be certified.
- The foreign operation must already hold valid EU-equivalent certification and comply with Bio Suisse standards.
- Air freight is restricted, and the whole supply chain must be certified with unbroken traceability back to the original producer.
- Goods flow must be recorded in Bio Suisse's Supply Chain Monitor.
5) Further information
- FOAG — labelling of organic productsLegal basis, the four accredited Swiss bodies, and the absence of a national organic label.
- FOAG — international tradeThe two import routes, the Annex 1 country list, and the equivalence arrangements with underlying documents.
- FOAG Ordinance SR 910.184The import ordinance, with Annex 1 (recognised countries) and Annex 2 (recognised third-country bodies).
- Organic Farming Ordinance SR 910.18The primary Swiss organic law; Article 24 sets the certificate of inspection duty.
- Bio Suisse — importing with Bio SuisseImport rules, the licence requirement, certifying bodies and the Supply Chain Monitor.
Last reviewed: 2026-09-06