In the field of organic agriculture, a new type of fraud: impostors offer on behalf of the official certificate authorities to the documents of certification. Experts warn manufacturers: beware!

In Krasnodar region there are cases of fraud: scammers offer organic producers certificates under the name of the official companies-CA. "Before the law about organics in force, the main problem in the market was rigged themselves with organic products, - says Oleg Mironenko, Executive Director of the National organic Union. Either the product was placed illegally sign organic production or certification does not comply with international rules and was purchased. Often this concerned dairy products such as cheeses and butter. In particular, first on the Russian store shelves there were a lot of fake imported cheese. But when an embargo was imposed, and consumers switched to the Russian-made cheeses, has become a lot of fakes "Russian", "Poshehonsky", "Dutch" cheese. Now we continue to commit such violations. In this case, since the law already imposed a number of restrictions to the product put various unofficial icons, and besides there was a Russian graphic symbol of organic products, we are also seeing new types of fraud."

The law States that certify organic production can only officially accredited company-certificate authority. "Companies that do not have accreditation, a claim that they allegedly have special agreements with official certificate authorities and can act on their behalf, - says Oleg Mironenko. And start to cheat producers, take their money, give false documents to mislead".

As Sergey confirms Vodnik Creator and co-owner of the company "bio-farm of Kuban", the scammers appeal primarily to those organic producers who have not yet managed to obtain Russian organic certification: "We expect that will start to appear the scammers in Russia used to do fake paper. The company, which received such a dubious offer, we were advised not to work with "fake" authority. For non-accredited companies, you cannot apply for certification as if they were not explained."

"Fake certificates we have not yet encountered, but fake offers for certification has already appeared. Moreover, these proposals are being made supposedly on behalf of the official certificate authority, that is, having the state accreditation for this activity - emphasizes Tatiana Volkova, the General Director of the company "Organic expert" - We are faced with the fact that the provision of services supposedly offered through an accredited body, in particular, the "Organic expert". These facts show how the interest of manufacturers and the popularity of organic certification and lack of awareness of market participants".

Having fallen into the trap of pseudouridylation, producers lose not only money but also time. "Organic production is mainly seasonal, and if the manufacturer is engaged, for example in crop production, will begin a "certification" in the summer to get the certificate in September, the deception will not be discovered until the autumn - like Tatiana Volkova. - This means that he will not have time until the end of the season to go in this accredited on both phases of certification (extramural and intramural), and, accordingly, will lose a year."

Technically the scammers can arrange a clearance certificate from this certificate authority? "Options may be different, - says Tatiana Volkova. - The potential client is sent a proposal on the certification. The proposal contained a slightly modified text of the newsletter of the "Organic expert" with a description of the certification procedure. And, most importantly, are sent to fill the file "Organic expert" - Supplement to the application and the list of products. These documents provided by the quality management system "Organic expert" and necessary to determine the scope and cost of works. In this case refers to the alleged partnership with the "Organic expert"". And information letter and its annexes to obtain for the "pseudocertainty" it's easy, just go to the official company certificate authority to request certification. "How are these "certificate authorities" plan to proceed, we can only guess. But at the modern level of technical development "draw" certificate – business of five minutes. And it will look like the original. Even with the "correct" signatures and seal" - says Tatiana Volkova.

But to make manufacturer in the Unified state register of organic producers, which leads the Ministry of agriculture of the Russian Federation, pseudocertainty can not. So, the manufacturer will not get the QR code needed for the labelling of organic products and will not be able to label their products as organic.

"Such sentences as "certificate for one day" is not uncommon, this applies to all areas of certification, and the Federal accreditation service is constantly fighting against such "black" CA - emphasizes Tatiana Volkova. But manufacturers continue to fall for the bait, because offers are scams tempting at the price and time of receipt of the certificate". But then to find such a firm-by-night will be difficult.

Sergey Vodnik believes that while the manufacturers of protection against fraud is not: "there is No proper public control over the certification procedure. We suggested that, at the time, to the Federal service for accreditation has created a public body, which would include organic producers and market experts. Practice shows that corruption in Russia may be reduced only with the help of the public. By organic producers should actively identify such fraud. We will not tolerate violations and will refer protests to the accreditation bodies. In the first year of the law will be decided by lot, we need to maintain a high level of our organic standard".

"If you call and offer organic certification, it is an occasion to reflect - emphasizes Tatiana Volkova. For example, "Organic expert" only works with incoming calls. Now on the market only three accredited certification body, so the loading is very high. If they say that the certification can be achieved without the departure, it is also cheating: full-time organic certification verification check the applicant is a mandatory part of the procedure." The most reliable way to check is to visit the website of Raskreditatsiya to find in the registry of accredited persons official contacts of the company on whose behalf you are offered certification, and to contact her by a specified official contacts. Tatiana Volkova believes that one of the ways fraud can be placing on the website of the Ministry of agriculture of the Russian Federation the most detailed official information about how to check certification authority, as well as list of accredited bodies on organic certification and their official contacts and explain how not to fall for tricks fraudsters, to prevent mass distribution of cases of fraud.