Institute for Market ecology (IMO)
The Institute for Market Ecology (IMO) is one of the first and most renowned international agencies for inspection, certification and quality assurance of eco-friendly products. Our world-wide activities are accredited by the Swiss Accreditation Service (SAS) according to EN 45011 (ISO 65), which is the international standard for certification. IMO offers certification for organic production and handling according the EU Regulation (EC) N° 834/2007 and (EC) N° 889/2008. Also we have been accredited by USDA for organic certification according to the American National Organic Program (NOP). Recently we have received the reaccreditation by MAFF and offer certification according to the Japanese Agricultural Standard (JAS) for the Japanese market.
For more than 20 years, IMO has been active in the field of organic certification but it is also expert in the sectors of natural textiles, sustainable forestry, and social accountability monitoring. * Organic certification of agricultural products as well as aquaculture products and farm inputs (Input Verification Program) according to all most important standards and support with trade procedures for organic products. IMO has a special expertise in organic certification of smallholder farmer groups.
* Certification of sustainably produced and safe products:
- Eco-textiles (GOTS, IVN, OE100/Blended etc.)
- FSC and other schemes for responsible forest management and timber products
- Food Safety (ISO 22000, IFS, BRC, HACCP)
- Sustainable cosmetics (NaTrue, Vida Sana)
- GLOBALGAP (integrated & safe production)
- UTZ CERTIFIED (responsibly produced coffee and cocoa)
- Traceability (WorldTrace: effective online traceability system)
* Expertise and training in all aspects related to quality assurance for organic or sustainably produced products or services, esp. in the field of smallholder group certification and development of local certification capacity.