The trade of ecological products began around the world in the 1970 years. Meanwhile, European enterprises demanded ecological products from our country which is an agricultural country. With these demands, ecological agriculture has started in 1984 in our country. The first ecological farming practices were made with raisins and dried figs, our traditional export products in the Aegean Region. Subsequently, in other regions, products such as hazelnut and dried apricots have started to be produced ecologically.
With these studies, Ecological Agriculture Organization Association was established in 1992 in order to ensure that ecological production fits into a certain system. The members of this association were exporters, manufacturers, research and development firms and consumer organizations.
In short, ecological farming activities started in the Aegean Region in our country for the first time and most of the producer companies are in İzmir.
The organic production directive EEC 1991 / 2092 issued in 91 in European Union countries is the first legal regulation on ecological agriculture. Ecological agriculture activities in our country have been started on the basis of this directive. This directive was repealed in 2009 and EC 834 / 2007 was issued in its place, and 889 / 2008, which describes the conditions of application of this regulation, was issued. These regulations include ecological production method, inputs to be used during production, control and certification method, labeling and importation principles from third countries.
In our country, the Regulation on the Production of Plant and Animal Products by Ecological Methods, the first legal regulation, was published by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in 1994. Lastly, Regulation on the Principles and Application of Organic Agriculture was issued in 2010.
On the other hand TÜRCERT Technical Control and Certification Inc. de ECOmark has developed a standard that is completely self-design. In addition, TÜRCERT grants companies the right to use the ECOmark certificate and the ECOmark logo.
If the companies applying the ECOmark standard apply to TÜRCERT in their business, a contract is made and then the auditors are appointed and audit works are started. If it is convinced that the company meets the requirements of the ECOmark standard after the first and second stage audits, TÜRCERT issues an ECOmark certificate and delivers it to the company. In this way, the company can use the ECOmark logo on its products.