The development of certification schemes is driven mainly by factors such as social demands for certain characteristics of the product or its production process on one hand ( mostly for B2C schemes ), and operators ' desire to ensure that their suppliers meet specified requirements , on the other hand ( mostly for B2B schemes ). In the area of food safety , Regulation ( EC ) N . 178 / 2002 ( laying down general principles and requirements of food law ) puts the primary responsibility for ensuring that food and feed satisfying the requirements of food law and verifying that such requirements are met , on the level of food and feed business operators . Large players in the food supply chain often rely on certification schemes in order to satisfy themselves that a product meets the requirements and to protect their reputation and liability in the event of a food safety incident .
Private certification isn ‟ t needed to show compliance with legal requirements . Any private certification scheme for the agricultural and food sector must remain voluntary . Where operators employ certification of compliance with basic requirements in order to facilitate transactions with other actors along the food chain , it should be clear that this practice cannot be used to differentiate products in the market .
Certification schemes have benefits :
� to intermediate actors in the food supply chain , by assuring standards and thereby protecting liability and reputation for product and label claims ;
� to producers , by increasing market access , market share and product margins for certified products and also , potentially , by increasing efficiency and reducing transaction costs ;
� to consumers , by providing reliable and trustworthy information on product and process attributes .
PDO / PGI / Organic labels represent a little sample of product certification schemes . Other opportunities are represented by IFS , BRC , Traceability ( ISO 22005 ) and voluntary schemes to build according to the needs of the stakeholders .
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