Uzbekistan: the law on organic products adopted

As of 27 July 2022, manufacturers and importers of organic food products are required to comply with the adopted set of requirements. 

The Law “On Organic Products if Uzbekistan” adopted in April 2022, regulates production, processing, storage, transportation, labelling and sale, as well as conformity assessment and authorization of organic products.

Production of organic products must be carried out separately from the production process of non-organic products. 

Manufacturing process of organic products must conform to the following requirements:

• use of healthy animals and plants, safe products and raw materials of animal and vegetable origin;

• use of technologies that meet the requirements of the legislation on organic products and regulatory documents in the field of technical regulation;

• preservation, restoration and improvement of soil fertility;

• preservation of ecological systems when choosing a specific type of organic products for production;

• use of renewable natural resources, including products and wastes of plant and animal origin;

• reduction of the use of non-renewable natural resources;

• the use of technologies that do not harm human health, plants and animals, prevent or eliminate the effects of environmental pollution, and others.

When producing organic products, it is prohibited to:

• use synthetic substances, pesticides, hormones, antibiotics and chemical food additives;

• apply plant growing methods that do not involve the use of soil;

• use of ionizing radiation (sources) and chemical methods of plant treatment;

• use as fertilizers any substances consisting of sewage sludge, septic waste and other human waste;

• use land plots, water bodies and (or) their parts contaminated with waste, chemical and radioactive substances;

• use any embryo transplantation, cloning and genetic engineering methods, genetically modified and transgenic organisms, as well as products manufactured using genetically modified and transgenic organisms. 

The adopted law also regulates the use of words, such as "organic", "biological", "ecologic" and "natural" in organic product labelling.

The Ministry of Agriculture of Uzbekistan is to maintain the Register of Organic Producers on its official website.