BCS ÖKO-GARANTIE GMBH is licenced as a private controlling agency since May 11th 1992 to implement the EU Regulation on organic production. We are one of the first control bodies in Germany. Long standing experience and personal engagement in all areas of organic production are the reliable basis of BCS.

CERES works towards the following quality goals:

1. Transparency

We are transparent regarding our criteria, policies and standard interpretation. Our policies are available to the public and clients do not need to worry about suddenly being faced with new, unexpected requirements.

2. Efficiency

• We strive to deal with your certification request in the shortest possible time.
• We endeavor to answer your questions within three business days.

3. Partnership

• We provide you with the necessary tools to auto-assess your farm's or company's compliance with relevant standards and define corrective measures.
• We believe in operator responsibility.

How we seek to achieve these goals:

• The CERES management, Ulrich Findel, Dr. Bernhard Schulz, and Albrecht Benzing have many years of experience in international certification work
•  We work with well trained and independent local staff who are regularly updated.
• We continuously adapt and improve our quality management system.
• We reduce bureaucratic procedures to the necessary minimum
• We seek consistent, impartial, equal treatment for all clients
• We are open to new ideas and suggestions for improvement
• We have clear procedures for preventing conflicts of interest and discouraging corruption

Ecocert is a certification body for sustainable development. It is an inspection and certification body established in France by agronomists aware of the need to develop environmentally friendly agriculture and of the importance of offering some form of recognition to those committed to this method of production. From its creation, Ecocert is specialized in the certification of organic agricultural products. Ecocert has contributed to the expansion of organic farming.

The organic product label indicates that the product has been grown within sustainable cultivation systems. Foods may only be marked as "organic" if at least 95% of their agricultural ingredients are organic. Organic ingredients in non-organic food may be listed as organic in the list of ingredients, as long as this food has been produced in accordance with the organic legislation. In order to ensure better transparency, the code number of the control body must be indicated.

The requlations of January 2009 brought greater emphasis on environmental protection, biodiversity and high standards of animal protection.

Organic production respects natural systems and cycles. Sustainable production should be achieved insofar as possible with the help of biological and mechanical production processes, through land-related production and without the use genetically modified organisms (GMO).In organic farming, closed cycles with the use of the internal resources are preferred to open cycles with the supply of external resources. Ideally, external resources should be limited to organic resources from other organic farms, natural or naturally obtained materials and low soluble mineral fertilisers. In exceptional cases, however, chemical synthetic resources may be permitted if suitable alternatives are lacking. These are only authorised and listed in positive lists in the Annex of the Commission Regulation after a thorough investigation by the Commission and the Member States.

An innovative company that imports, ripens, packs and distributes exotic fruits and vegetables, provides a very pleasant, friendly and safe workplace with very good working conditions even compared to already high Dutch Labour standards.No Forced Labour

1. Freedom of Association and Right to Collective Bargaining
2. No Child Labour and Protection of Young Workers
3. Transparent and Human Disciplinary Practices
4. Equal Treatment and Opportunities
5. Health and Safety
6. Contracts and Good Relation between Employer and Workforce
7. Wages
8. Social Security and Social Benefits
9. Working Hours and Paid Leave
10. Regular Employment
11. Commitment and Management of Social Responsibility
12. Community Relations
13. Respecting Rights of Indigenous and Local Peoples
     
14. Water Conservation and Water/Air Polution
15. Energy Management and Climate Change
16. Ecosystem Management
17. Waste Management

Fairtrade is an alternative approach to conventional trade and is based on a partnership between producers and consumers. When farmers can sell on Fairtrade terms, it provides them with a better deal and improved terms of trade. This allows them the opportunity to improve their lives and plan for their future. Fairtrade offers consumers a powerful way to reduce poverty through their every day shopping.

Die SGS SA mit Sitz in Genf ist ein international tätiger Schweizer Warenprüfkonzern.

Die SGS (früher Société Générale de Surveillance) bietet Dienstleistungen in den Bereichen Prüfen, Verifizieren, physikalisches Testen und Zertifizieren. Rund 83'500 Mitarbeiter arbeiten im Netzwerk der SGS aus mehr als 1500 Niederlassungen und Laboren in über 120 Ländern.

Die wichtigsten Dienstleistungen der SGS sind Inspektionen, Tests, Zertifizierungsleistungen und Verifizierungen. Bei den Inspektionen geht es um die Prüfung und den Nachweis der Menge, des Gewichts und der Qualität der gehandelten Waren. Die Tests untersuchen die Produktqualität und prüfen, ob einschlägige Gesundheits- und Sicherheitsbestimmungen sowie gesetzliche Vorschriften eingehalten werden. Zertifizierungsleistungen bestätigen, dass Produkte, Systeme oder Dienstleistungen den Anforderungen entsprechen, die Staaten, Normgeber oder die Kunden der SGS festgelegt haben. Verifizierungen erbringen den Nachweis, dass Produkte und Dienstleistungen weltweite Standards und lokale Bestimmungen einhalten.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) is devoted to promoting social justice and internationally recognized human and labour rights, pursuing its founding mission that labour peace is essential to prosperity. Today, the ILO helps advance the creation of decent work and the economic and working conditions that give working people and business people a stake in lasting peace, prosperity and progress. Its tripartite structure provides a unique platform for promoting decent work for all women and men . Its main aims are to promote rights at work, encourage decent employment opportunities, enhance social protection and strengthen dialogue on work-related issues.

Merger of Kiwa and BCS Öko-Garantie (2014)

The two prestigious certification organisations Kiwa Germany GmbH in Hamburg and BCS Öko-Garantie GmbH in Nuremberg have joined forces in a move aimed at strengthening their worldwide market position.

With twelve offices in South America, Asia, Africa and Europe as well as numerous partners in 80 countries around the world, BCS is known worldwide as one of the largest certification organisations for organic products. The certified product range reflects our daily needs, ranging from dairy products, cereals and baby food through to coffee, cocoa, tropical fruit, tea and saffron with origins from around the world. With a presence in China, Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico, Cuba, Colombia, Chile and Costa Rica as well as Ethiopia, South Africa and many other countries, BCS ideally complements the Food, Feed and Farm sector of Kiwa, who is active in this service division in and outside Europe in countries such as Italy, Sweden, Spain, the UK, Turkey and Peru. Together Kiwa and BCS can now offer a much wider range of services from a single source.

Dr. Ulrich Ellinghaus, Managing Director of Kiwa Germany, is excited about the new association: "With this merger we rise to the position of one of the top names in the fast-expanding segment of food safety and organic food. With BCS we were able to gain a number of international business operations. We will use this new advantage nationally and internationally for the benefit of our customers.""

Peter Grosch, founder and CEO of BCS Öko-Garantie, agrees: "Through Kiwa we now offer our customers the opportunity to obtain one stop shopping certification of management systems. And this is just one of the synergies and benefits that this merger brings to our customers.""
About Kiwa

Kiwa was founded in the Netherlands in 1948. In Germany Kiwa has 18 sites and specialises in quality testing and certifying products and systems as well as providing environmental protection services. Kiwa works as an independent company for customers in many industries with a focus on building materials and products, real estate and infrastructure, automotive and transport, food safety, medicine, energy, gas, water and the environment. More information is available at www.kiwa.de.
About BCS

Established in 1990, BCS Öko-Garantie GmbH has been licensed as a private inspection body authorised to apply the EU eco regulation since 11 May 1992. This makes it the first approved inspection body in Germany bearing the code DE-ÖKO-001. BCS Öko-Garantie currently certifies approximately 450,000 producers in 80 countries worldwide. Many years of experience and hands-on participation at all levels of organic agriculture has shaped the company's reliable foundation. More information is available at www.bcs-oeko.de.

Die 1992 von sechs grossen Schweizer Hilfswerken gegründete Max Havelaar-Stiftung ist eine Non-Profit-Organisation, die in der Schweiz das Fairtrade-Label vergibt. Als Mitglied von Fairtrade International strebt Max Havelaar an, durch fairen Handel das Leben von Kleinbauern und Plantagenarbeiterinnen in Entwicklungs- und Schwellenländern zu verbessern, betreibt aber selbst keinen Handel. Hauptaufgaben der Max Havelaar-Stiftung sind die Schaffung von Marktzugang für Fairtrade-Produkte sowie die Informations- und Sensibilisierungsarbeit für den fairen Handel in der Schweiz.

SCS Established first “no detected residue” certification program for fresh produce, backed by full disclosures by growers, field sampling and lab testing.

The NutriClean Pesticide Residue Free Certification Program was launched in 1985 to showcase the achievements of growers whose crops meet an exceptionally tough residue standard. A product is certified as residue-free when laboratory tests find no pesticide residues down to the lab’s limits of detection, which is set based on government-accepted limit-of-detection protocols

QCS is the certification body of Florida Certified Organic Growers and Consumers Inc., a nonprofit organization that began certifying organic growers in 1987 and received its USDA accreditation in 2001.

QCS is a USDA and ANSI ISO/IEC 17065 accredited certification body that offers a wide array of certification options for farming of crops, livestock, aquaculture, animal feed manufacturing, packing, handling and processing and wild harvest operations. We’re proud of our diverse clients and services, but we’re most proud to offer affordable certification and an unwavering commitment to customer service.

Fairtrade eller (i Finland) Rättvis handel – tidigare (i Sverige) Rättvisemärkt och (i Finland) Rejäl handel – är en produktmärkning av varor, främst livsmedel, som syftar till att förbättra arbets- och levnadsvillkor för odlare och anställda i utvecklingsländer genom rättvis handel. Märkningen innebär att produkten uppfyller de internationella Fairtrade-kriterierna, som i första hand handlar om arbetsvillkor. Till exempel ska lantarbetare ha rätt till den nationellt lagstadgade minimilönen. Kriterierna grundar sig på ILO:s åtta kärnkonventioner.

Scientific Certification Systems, Inc., now doing business as SCS Global Services, is a trusted leader in third-party environmental, sustainability and food quality certification, auditing, testing and standards development.

Mit dem Zertifizierungssystem Stop Climate Change können die von Unternehmen verursachten Treibhausgasemissionen nach standardisierten und transparenten Regeln verringert werden. Im Programm werden fundierte Informationen über den Emissionsstatus von Prozessen und deren Ressourcenverbrauch erhoben. Mit diesen Kenntnissen wird nicht nur die Freisetzung von Treibhausgasen reduziert. Sie bieten auch die Möglichkeit, die Prozesskosten zu optimieren.