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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