Two documents travel with organic botanical material and buyers routinely confuse them. The scope certificate says an operator is certified for certain activities and products. The transaction certificate says a specific consignment, in a specific quantity, was sold as organic under that certification. Only the second one attaches organic status to the goods in front of you.
What a Transaction Certificate Is
A transaction certificate (TC) is issued by the accredited certification body of the seller for one commercial transaction. Under India’s National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP), administered by APEDA, the exporter applies for the TC in the TraceNet system after the sale, and the certification body issues it against the operator’s scope certificate and the quantities recorded in the system. A TC therefore carries the seller and buyer names, the product and its organic standard, the lot or batch numbers, the quantity, the invoice reference and the certification body’s identification. Quantity is the control: the certification body cannot issue TCs for more organic product than the operator has bought or produced as organic, which is how mass-balance fraud is meant to be caught.
How It Relates to the Scope Certificate
The scope certificate is the operator’s licence; the TC is the receipt. A supplier who shows you a scope certificate has shown you that they may sell organic product; a supplier who gives you a TC for your consignment has shown you that they did. Ask for both, and check that the product on the TC falls inside the scope. Our earlier piece, transaction certificate versus scope certificate, sets out the difference in more detail.
Exporting to the EU: the Certificate of Inspection
For imports into the European Union the consignment-level document is the certificate of inspection (COI), issued electronically in the TRACES system by the control body recognised for the exporting country under the EU organic regulation and its delegated rules on imports. The COI is endorsed by the EU border authority before the goods can be released as organic. The NPOP TC does not replace it; the exporter’s control body issues the COI, and the importer’s customs and organic authorities check it in TRACES. A buyer in the EU should expect the COI reference before the goods land and should not accept a TC alone as proof of organic status at the border.
What to Check on a TC
- Certification body name, accreditation number and, for NPOP, the TraceNet TC number.
- Seller and buyer exactly as on the invoice.
- Product description, botanical name, form (extract, powder, oil) and the organic standard (NPOP, and any equivalence the TC claims).
- Lot numbers and quantities that match the packing list; a TC quantity larger than the shipment is a red flag.
- Issue date after the invoice date, and a valid scope certificate on the same operator at that date.
Verifying It
NPOP TCs can be verified through APEDA’s TraceNet with the certificate number and the operator details; EU COIs are verified in TRACES by the importer. Where verification is not possible, contact the certification body directly and quote the TC number; a genuine body answers. Do not rely on a PDF sent by the seller.
Where SV Botanica Stands
SV Botanica does not claim to hold organic certification. Where a buyer needs certified organic material, it is sourced from a certified operator against the buyer’s specification, and the TC for the consignment is issued by that operator’s certification body in the operator’s name. That is the correct chain, and it is the one buyers should insist on from any merchant supplier.
Organic-route sourcing, documented correctly
Certified material sourced against your specification, with the transaction certificate issued by the certified operator’s certification body.