AB Logo, Euro-leaf, FR-BIO-XX Code: What Each Organic Sign Actually Commits You To

On a jar of organic jam sit a leaf drawn from stars on a green background, a green-and-white monogram, an alphanumeric code and an origin statement. Three are imposed by the European regulation; the fourth is purely voluntary. Many professionals treat them as equivalent — a mistake that gets expensive at inspection time. Here is what each sign commits you to in law.

The Euro-leaf: the only compulsory logo

The Euro-leaf — the leaf drawn from white stars on a green background, known in France as the Eurofeuille — is the European Union organic logo, defined in Annex V to Regulation (EU) 2018/848, compulsory since 1 July 2010.

It is compulsory on prepackaged food containing at least 95 % organic agricultural ingredients. It is optional on products sold loose, on products imported from third countries and not packaged in the Union, and on communication materials — where, if it appears, its graphic charter must be respected. It is prohibited in three cases set out below: food with less than 95 % organic agricultural ingredients, food whose main ingredient comes from hunting or fishing, and products in conversion.

What must go with it

The certification body code

The certification body code number must appear on the label attached to the product, in the same field of vision as the Euro-leaf whenever the latter is used. It is always built the same way: member-state acronym, reference to organic production, body number — in France, the FR-BIO-XX format (for example FR-BIO-15).

A frequently misunderstood point: it is the code of the body responsible for the operator who carried out the last production or preparation operation, including the physical act of applying the label. For an own-brand product prepared under subcontract, it is the subcontractor’s code; the retailer’s may be added, never substituted. And the code is required as soon as a term referring to organic production appears on the label, even with no Euro-leaf.

The origin of the agricultural raw materials

Whenever the Euro-leaf is used, the origin of the agricultural raw materials must be stated, directly beneath the certification body code, in one of the three prescribed forms: “Agriculture UE” (EU Agriculture), “Agriculture non UE” (non-EU Agriculture) or “Agriculture UE/non UE”.

The wording is fixed: no “Agriculture biologique UE”, no reordering, no bare “France” without the word “Agriculture”. A country or region name may replace “UE” or “non UE” where at least 95 % by weight of the agricultural raw materials come from it. A protected geographical indication takes precedence, however: the INAO, France’s national institute for origin and quality, points out that an organic Corsican clementine outside the “Clémentine de Corse” specification cannot mention Corsica. Finally, the statement must not be more prominent than the sales name.

The AB logo: French, optional, no extra rights

The AB logo is a national mark; its current logotype was created in 1996 and registered with the INPI, France’s industrial property office. It is the exclusive property of the ministry responsible for agriculture; the Agence BIO manages its use on communication materials and the INAO protects it.

Three consequences. Its use is optional, and nothing requires it to sit next to the Euro-leaf: the two logos may appear separately. It adds no guarantee and follows the same eligibility conditions, including the ban on food below 95 %. It must not reduce the visibility of the European logo. It is a recognition device, not an extra right — the same logic as the HVE logo and its 95 % rule.

Table: who requires what

Sign or statement	Status	What it guarantees	Who governs it
Euro-leaf	Compulsory on prepackaged organic food prepared in the EU; optional loose and on imports	Compliance with Regulation (EU) 2018/848, including 95 % minimum organic agricultural ingredients	Certification body, DGCCRF
FR-BIO-XX code	Compulsory as soon as an organic term appears on the label	Identifies the body that certified the last preparer	Certification body, DGCCRF
“Agriculture UE / non UE”	Compulsory if the Euro-leaf is used	Provenance of the agricultural raw materials	Certification body, DGCCRF
AB logo	Optional	Nothing beyond the Euro-leaf	Ministry of Agriculture, Agence BIO, INAO
“En conversion vers l’agriculture biologique”	Optional, narrow cases	A conversion under way, not an organic product	Certification body

“Organic”: a protected word before it is a selling point

Terms referring to the organic production method are protected throughout the Union and in all its languages — in French, “biologique” and every diminutive and derivative, starting with “bio”. The protection covers labelling, advertising, commercial documents and even brand names. The word itself is therefore the first regulated sign, ahead of any logo. To use it: be registered and inspected by an approved certification body — see our guide on how to obtain organic certification and our article on who has to be certified organic.

Processed products: the 95 % boundary

Everything turns on a single threshold, calculated on ingredients of agricultural origin:

• 95 % or more organic agricultural ingredients: the organic reference may appear in the sales name, the Euro-leaf is compulsory if the product is prepackaged, the AB logo remains optional.
• Below 95 %: the organic reference is possible only in the list of ingredients, stating which ingredients are organic and the total percentage of organic ingredients as a share of the total quantity of agricultural ingredients, in the same colour, format and typeface as the rest of the list. The Euro-leaf and the AB logo are prohibited — but the body code remains compulsory, and the operator remains subject to registration and inspection.

This is the most accident-prone configuration: a company that folds in a few organic ingredients assumes it can “go organic” on the front of pack. It cannot.

Special cases to handle carefully

Products in conversion. As a rule they may be marketed neither as organic nor as “in conversion”. By narrow derogation, unprocessed plant products and food composed of a single agricultural plant ingredient may carry the statement “en conversion vers l’agriculture biologique”, provided a conversion period of at least twelve months before harvest has been observed and there is no blending. Nothing is possible for animals and animal products. And never a logo: see our article on conversion to organic farming.

Loose sales and direct selling. The Euro-leaf becomes optional, but the body code stays compulsory on the label attached to the product. Shelf signs and price tags are out of scope; markings on a bulk dispenser are not.

Catering. Outside the scope of the European regulation. France has created a national specification for commercial catering, with tiers based on the value of organic purchases and its own display rules: see our article on displaying “organic” in a restaurant or shop.

Non-food products. The regulation also covers products closely linked to agriculture — salt, natural cork stoppers, essential oils, raw cotton, raw wool, beeswax. Finished cosmetics and textiles fall outside it: the “organic” claims found there refer to private standards.

What the research says about logo recognition

How well known a logo is and what it commits you to in law are two different things. Meike Janssen and Ulrich Hamm showed this in 2012 in Food Quality and Preference (“Product labelling in the market for organic food: Consumer preferences and willingness-to-pay for different organic certification logos”), from choice experiments and interviews with 2,441 organic food consumers across six European countries: willingness to pay varies considerably from one logo to another, with well-established national or private logos often valued above the European logo (see the study).

Hence the interest, for a French operator, in running both: the Euro-leaf because it is compulsory and carries the regulatory guarantee, the AB logo because it speaks immediately to French consumers. The second never replaces the first; it complements it.

What you risk by claiming without a certificate

The survey published by the DGCCRF, France’s consumer protection and fraud control authority, under the title “Le label sans la preuve” gives the measure of enforcement: 4,748 checks across 2023 and 2024, with a 32 % anomaly rate, broadly stable against previous campaigns. Over 2021 and 2022, absence of certification alone accounted for half the irregularities found, misleading commercial practices 15 % and labelling defects 9 %.

Follow-up ranges from a warning to an administrative injunction to comply — register the activity, get certified — and to formal proceedings. An uncertified claim is analysed as a misleading commercial practice, on top of the downgrading of the batches concerned. The cost of organic certification compares well with that of a label recall.

Checking that a supplier really is certified

Three reflexes: consult the official Agence BIO directory, fed by the certification bodies, where a suspension is reflected; ask for the certificate in force and check that it covers the product categories concerned; cross-check the FR-BIO-XX code on incoming labels against the body named on the certificate.

Take action

Before any label print run, walk the sequence in order: 95 % threshold documented, Euro-leaf if the product is prepackaged, FR-BIO-XX code of the last preparer, origin statement immediately below, AB logo only if you want it — then artwork approval by your certification body. For the scheme as a whole, see our guide to organic farming certification; and if you are still weighing up schemes, our comparison of HVE and organic sets out the terms of the choice.