Who are we?
Council for Organic Agricultural Production of the Principality of Asturias (COPAE)
The Council for Organic Agricultural Production of the Principality of Asturias (COPAE) is a management body created by the regional ministry responsible for agricultural affairs to carry out official oversight of organic production.
The COPAE is governed by Law 2/2019, of March 1, on food quality, differentiated quality, and direct sales of food products, and by the Resolution of April 30, 2020, issued by the Regional Ministry of Rural Development, Agriculture, Livestock, and Fisheries, which approves the bylaws of the Council for Organic Agricultural Production of the Principality of Asturias.
Organizational Chart (COPAE)
COPAE’s governing body is the Council Plenary, in which producers, processors, consumers, and the administration of the Principality of Asturias are represented.
Its operations are governed by Internal Regulations, which have been approved by the Council in plenary session.
Functions of COPAE
COPAE’s primary function is to monitor and certify organic production
But it is also responsible for other public functions, such as managing the registry of organic producers, ensuring compliance with organic production standards, promoting the consumption of organic food, and raising awareness of organic production systems.
Records
COPAE oversees organic production standards at all stages of production, processing, and marketing of organic products. As such, COPAE is responsible for managing the following operator registries:
Producers
For agricultural, livestock, or aquaculture production.
Producers
For companies that process, manufacture, or distribute.
Importers
For imports from third countries.
Retail Businesses
For stores that handle organic products or sell them in bulk or in smaller quantities to consumers or end users.
Restaurants
To guarantee the origin of organic products, COPAE offers the option of establishing partnership agreements with institutional food service companies and is creating a new registry to monitor restaurants and institutional food service companies that prepare menus or dishes using organic ingredients.
REGOE
At the national level, there is a general registry of organic operators (REGOE), which can be accessed on the Ministry of Agriculture’s website.
Access to the REGOE.
Statistics
Results in Numbers
COPAE compiles data on organic production annually. The information includes the number of operators by activity, the registered area by crop, livestock production, and types of industries, among other things.
You can view statistics dating back to 2001—for both Asturias and the rest of Spain’s autonomous communities—on the website of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food.
View annual reports:
Fees
Public and nonprofit
One of the requirements established by European organic production regulations is that operators contribute to the costs of inspections. For this reason, COPAE sets different registration and maintenance fees for the registries, depending on the type of operator and certified activities. The updated fees can be found here.
COPAE is a public, nonprofit management entity. Revenue from operator fees is used to help fund part of the costs of monitoring and operations, as well as part of the costs of promoting organic production.
Since these are public functions entrusted by the government, COPAE is also funded through grants from the regional ministry responsible for agricultural affairs.
Regulations
Organic production is regulated at the European level. You can find all the latest legislation on organic production—both national and European—on the Ministry of Agriculture’s website.
Consult European and national regulations
You can view statistics dating back to 2001—both for Asturias and for the rest of Spain’s autonomous communities—on the website of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food.
View annual reports:
- Law 2/2019, of March 1, on food quality, differentiated quality, and direct sales of food products.
- Resolution of April 30, 2020, of the Regional Ministry of Rural Development, Agriculture, Livestock, and Fisheries, approving the bylaws of the Council for Organic Agricultural Production of the Principality of Asturias. Internal Regulations of the COPAE, approved on September 26, 2024. List of measures applicable in the event of noncompliance with organic production requirements
- Resolution on the Exemption of Certain Retail Businesses
Report
