The Ministry of Rural Development and Food’s Appeals Review Committee has imposed fines exceeding €56,000 on Control and Certification Bodies (CCBs) for organic products, due to serious omissions and non-compliance identified by ELGO-DIMITRA during recent routine and emergency inspections.

The inspections were carried out following the order of Minister Kostas Tsiaras, after a meeting with Deputy Minister Giannis Andrianos and General Secretary Spyros Protopsaltis. They are continuing in full and are being intensified under ELGO-DIMITRA’s jurisdiction, with further penalties expected for violations, aiming to protect consumers and support compliant producers.

Specifically:

• A certification company was fined a total of €37,692.30 for:
  • Insufficient investigation of detections of unauthorized substances,
  • Inadequate evaluation of information in the EU OFIS system,
  • Deficiencies in mass balance and traceability procedures.
• Another certification company received a fine of €18,922.85 for:
  • Issuing certificates without performing the mandatory annual physical inspection,
  • Inadequate management of non-compliant products.

The total amount of fines imposed is €56,615.15.