The Role of the Ministry of Agriculture in the Control system

The Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) supervises compliance with the rules for organic farming production. It authorises the control bodies that carry out regular checks on all organic operators. An operator only receives a certificate for its production and can only use the “BIO” or “ECO” suffixes on its products if it meets the requirements for organic production. The Ministry regularly supervises the activities of the control bodies. At least once a year, an supervision is carried out at the headquarters of the control body and throughout the year there is further supervision of inspectors from the control bodies whilst carrying out their checks. Furthermore, the Central Institute for Supervising and Testing in Agriculture (CISTA) is also involved in the control system. Since 2016, also the Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority (CAFIA) and the State Veterinary Administration (SVA), which carry out inspections of organic producers within the framework of their powers given by the law, have been involved.

Every entity involved in organic production must be registered at the MoA and subsequently such an entity is registered in the online database of all organic entities, the Registry of Organic Entrepreneurs, which is available on the MoA website www.eagri.cz/rep. Here the public can find basic information about organic operators, including information as to whether the operator has a currently valid certificate for their organic products. It also publishes up-to-date statistical data on the number of organic
farmers, organic food producers, the area of land under organic management and the division of land by individual regions, etc.