Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress the Government is making on negotiations to a secure an Organic Equivalence Arrangement with Japan.

Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) wrote to Defra on 19 December 2019 to confirm that Japan would continue to recognise UK organic products imported into Japan from the point at which the UK withdrew from the European Union. This recognition is effective for two years until 31 January 2022.

We have already confirmed that we will continue to recognise Japan’s organic products as we do now. We plan to write to MAFF shortly to confirm the legislation that will be in place in the UK at the end of the transition period and to confirm the import processes that they will need to follow to continue to export organic products to the UK.

Japan has also requested to audit the UK organic system in 2021. Defra have suggested some dates and we will continue to engage with MAFF over the coming months.