E-News February 2006

Welcome to the February, 2006 issue of the email update service provided by the IOAS and prepared specifically for regulatory authorities and related bodies active in the oversight of the organic food and farming sector. This is a special version of the update, also appearing in print form at BioFach, Nuremberg, February 16-19th; it contains additional introductory material on the IOAS for those people new to the mailing. The mailing is now going to over 450 professionals in this sector. Its purpose is to provide regular, clear and concise information about the IOAS, its work and the wider organic regulatory world. Please pass it on to any colleagues you think may be interested or request that it be sent direct to your desktop. There is no charge, the distribution list is anonymous and unsubscribing can be done at any time just by responding to authorities@ioas.org

The International Organic Accreditation Service (IOAS) is a non-profit organisation based in North Dakota, USA with offices in Australia, Spain and the United Kingdom. We work solely in the field of assessment of organic certification bodies and offer voluntary accreditation against IFOAM Norms and ISO/IEC Guide 65. The IOAS is recognised by the US Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards & Technology as offering these two programmes in compliance with ISO17011. We provide assessment and reporting services to government authorities in this field and training on assessment of organic certification bodies against various relevant international Norms and regulations. IOAS is committed to providing systems for worldwide equivalency, with rigour, empathy and integrity at reasonable cost to certifiers.

IOAS structure - the IOAS was established by IFOAM in 1998 to implement the IFOAM Accreditation Programme at arms length from the standard setting role of IFOAM itself. IFOAM Accreditation remains our core work but the ISO65 Programme, training and other services represent an increasing proportion of our work. The day-to-day work (including all assessment visits) is performed by 6 staff in 4 countries: Amaia Aldana, Ken Commins, David Crucefix, Jan Deane, Stephanie Goldfinch and Susan Hepper. The staff are overseen by a 7-8 member Board elected to represent a balance of interests and geography with current members coming from Australia, Germany, Netherlands, Thailand, United Kingdom and the USA. A similarly balanced, 7-8 person Accreditation Committee is responsible for accreditation decisions and currently has representation from Canada, Chile, Germany, Italy, Peru, Quebec, Switzerland and Thailand.

Debio, Norway granted IFOAM Accreditation - at a meeting of the IOAS Accreditation Committee on January 23rd, 2006, the Norwegian certification body, Debio was granted accreditation against IFOAM Norms following assessment during 2005. Debio are the only organic certification body in Norway and service around 3000 farms and processing units. Our congratulations to Debio who will sign their accreditation contract at BioFach next week. Further information at: Debio

ETKO, Turkey granted ISO65 Accreditation - at the same meeting the Turkish certification body ETKO based in Izmir were granted accreditation against ISO/IEC 65 with scope of the Turkish Organic Regulation 25841/2005, ETKO Textile Standards and EC 2092/91. The contact at ETKO is the Managing Director, Mustafa Akyüz at ma@etko.org Congratulations to ETKO who will also sign their accreditation contract at BioFach next week. See also ETKO

These new accreditations brings the total number of organic certification bodies under IOAS oversight to 37. 35 certification bodies are IFOAM Accredited with two applicants undergoing assessment. Under the ISO65 programme, five certification bodies are accredited with three undergoing assessment. 16 of the bodies are based in Europe, 8 in Asia-Pacific, 6 in North America, 5 in South America and 2 in the Middle East. Between them they conduct certification work in over 75 countries. An up to date listing of IOAS accredited certifiers, their status and full scope details is always available on our web site.

IOAS receives no external funding or grants. In 2005 its turnover of just under US$500,000 was earned mostly from its accreditation work with 10% derived from other projects, reports and training. Expenses breakdown as follows: Personnel: 62%, Meetings: 12%, Evaluation visit costs: 8%, Office costs: 5%, Promotion: 5%, Quality improvement: 3%, Legal and accounting: 3%, Project/Training costs: 1%, Other costs: 1%. IOAS made a slight surplus which will be applied to our target reserve and reinvestment in database development.

Assessments in 2005 - in addition to desk-based document reviews, IOAS evaluators spent a total of 113 days at on-site visits to certification bodies in 20 countries. During these visits 26 inspections were witnessed and a further 20 review audits were performed. On average IOAS evaluators each spend 60-70 days travelling per year.

Sanctions - in 2005 the IOAS issued 8 sanctions against accredited certification bodies; 1 warning letter, 4 fines, 1 notice of threat of suspension and one suspension. In the latter case the suspension did not take effect and become public due to immediate corrective actions by the certification body involved. In addition one certification body withdrew from the IFOAM Accreditation Programme during 2005 of its own accord.

Complaints - during 2005 IOAS investigated 6 complaints against accredited certification bodies and 3 cases of abuse of the IFOAM Seal.

New IOAS Board member - Jenny Barnes, Manager, International Policy & Coordination Unit at the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service joins the IOAS Board of Directors. Jenny has a strong background in regulatory auditing but also in organic standards in Australia and internationally. At AQIS she is involved in, amongst other things, negotiating international market access for organic produce from Australia, represents Australia on the Codex Alimentarius Committee on Food Labelling and also conducting audits herself of AQIS approved certification organisations. Her first meeting will be the IOAS AGM in March which will take place in Bonn. A warm welcome to Jenny.

Canada - information released in January from the Government of Canada's Organic Production System Task Force states that the task force was moved in November 2005 to the Food of Plant Origin Division to allow the establishment of a National Organic Office. The previous Director of the OTF, Joe Southall, has been replaced by Michel Saumur. http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english

IFOAM CB Forum meeting - IFOAM and the IFOAM Accredited Certifier group are cooperating to initiate an International Forum of Organic Certification Bodies. An initial meeting is being held on February 15th at the Nuremberg Messe, the day before the start of BioFach. The idea behind the initiative is 'to improve networking and cooperation amongst certification bodies, to identify and address problems and opportunities that arise and to enhance overall capacity of the system of organic certification'. Contact d.bowen@ifoam.org for more details.

Call for comments - IOAS invite comments on the performance (relevant to accreditation norms) of the following certification bodies currently undergoing evaluation or reevaluation: Ecoland, Germany, International Certification Services, USA, Quality Assurance International, USA (all against IFOAM Norms) and National Association of Sustainable Agriculture Australia, Organic Food Development & Certification Center, PR China (against IFOAM and ISO65).

Ken Commins will make a presentation at BioFach on a new initiative of the IOAS on providing assessment of certification bodies against various Norms and regulations. The service is particularly aimed at government authorities requiring surveillance of 'foreign' certification bodies. The presentation is on Thursday 16th February between 1-2pm in Room Riga at the Nuremberg Messe.