(concerns: LACON Organic Standard in equivalence to Regulations (EC) 834/2007 and 889/2008
does not concern: NOP certification, other certifications in non-EU countries)

After more than 30 years experience of LACON GmbH in the organic sector abroad, we are currently forced to change course and withdraw from the certification in third countries according to the requirements of the Organic Farming Regulation for the time being.

The conditions for certification according to the organic regulation in third countries are changing. Thereby, the principles and requirements are increasingly unclear and decisions are becoming arbitrary.

With the publication of the Regulation 2021/2325 in December 2021, it was confirmed that there is a political move away from the process certification like embedded in the Organic Regulation and a focus on residue-free as an organic characteristic for products from the third country (most recently with the guidelines for the import of certain products).

Although LACON’s high-quality work has always been confirmed in regular and many external and independent assessments, we necessarily see ourselves compelled to withdraw from the international organic business for the time being. This, until the conditions regarding the new certification system (compliance) in third-country are clarified and the requirements are on a solid firm basis. 

We deeply regret this situation.

However, we would like to be honest at this point, let common sense prevail and act preventively so that our well-known quality and your certification are not at risk.

We are aware that this decision will also affect you in the short term. We will therefore do what we can to support you during this challenging time, such as switch to another certification body.

However, we looking forward to hoisting our sails again after the storm as a competent certification partner with a great deal of experience, also in the international organic business.

The management of LACON GmbH

(19.01.2022)