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E-News Service : November 2006
Welcome to the November,
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. 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
Canadian
regulation -
The proposed Organic Products Regulations were published in the Canada
Gazette on September 2, 2006 and are open for a 75-day comment
period to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency up to November 16, 2006. The
proposed regulations will govern the use of a new federal organic
agricultural product legend (or logo) and will include mandatory
certification requirements for organic products in Canada. The Canada
Organic Regime (COR) is based on four main documents; the regulation (http://canadagazette.gc.ca/partII/2006/20061221-x6/html/extra-e.html
),
the Organic
Production Systems General Principles and Management Standards,
CAN/CGSB-32.310, the Organic production Systems Permitted Substances List,
CAN/CGSB-32.311 (both at http://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/cgsb/on_the_net/organic/index-e.html)
and a Quality Management Systems Manual. The regime will be
overseen by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency acting as the competent
authority using approved accreditation bodies to assess domestic
certification bodies who will in turn inspect organic operators. Accreditation
and certification requirements are based on ISO/IEC17011 and ISO/IEC65 with
additional requirements in places. IOAS will apply to be an approved
accreditation body under the COR.
Canadian
regulation - imports -To
facilitate and regulate imports the COR will have a system for
'foreign country recognition/equivalency negotiations', a system for 'unilateral
recognition of national control systems' and a system for
'recognition of accreditation bodies operating in a voluntary system',
provided that in the two latter cases, that products are certified
in accordance with the Canadian standards. In addition the COR proposes to
allow for 'direct recognition of certification bodies in foreign countries'.
EU
Regulation 2092/91 revision -
on October 25th, 2006 a further draft of the revision was released by the
Finnish Presidency who are hoping that agreement could be reached before the
end of 2006. A majority of member states appear to want the EU logo to be
obligatory and that country of origin should appear on labels, and this
draft makes this clear. These requirements are however, optional for
imported products. This new Presidency draft also proposes 3 organic
categories of processed products (95%+, 70-95% and less than 70%), a change
on previous drafts that proposed only the 95%+ category. On imports the new
draft distinguishes two routes; one of compliance in which certification
bodies must be accredited to ISO65 with scope of the EU Regulation and one
of equivalence which allows for either recognition of third countries (as
now) or direct recognition of certification bodies. In both latter cases the
assessment of equivalence will 'take into account' the Codex Alimentarius
Guidelines CAC/GL32. There is also provision for possible site visits in
both these cases.
International
Certification Services
of Medina, North Dakota, USA were in September granted accreditation against
Guide ISO/IEC65 with scope of Farm Verified Organic private standards which
have been assessed as equivalent to EC2092/91 and US NOP Production
standard.
Jan
Deane, IOAS
Programme Manager will be speaking at the IFOAM Certification Conference
taking place in Rome, next week November 15-17th, 2006. See
external link. Her topic will be the international accreditation
services that IOAS provides and will focus on the concept of one visit,
multiple approvals, especially topical in the light of the Canadian and
European developments reported above.
Felicia
Echeverria has
just been appointed as a new Board member of the IOAS. She replaces Jenny
Barnes of AQIS, Australia who, due to a change in her role at AQIS was
unable to take up her position this year and recently resigned. Felicia is
well known to many from her work as Manager of the National Organic
Agriculture Programme of Costa Rica between 1999-2006 during which time
Costa Rica attained third country recognition with the EU.
IOAS
training - a
training course for government authorities and accreditors on assessment of
organic certification bodies will take place in Switzerland
on November 20-23, 2006 We hope to make the course an annual event
with the collaboration of FiBL and expect that it will take place in
September/October of each year. Other courses in other regions may be
offered based on demand or specific request. Contact IOAS at training@ioas.org
for more information.
Israel
recognised - under
CFR 205.500(c)(1) of the NOP rule the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service
has recognised the conformity assessment system in Israel as sufficient
to ensure conformity to NOP standards. This allows organic
certification organizations recognised by the Israeli Plant Protection and
Inspection Service, to apply the NOP technical standards to certify
operations that produce or handle Israeli agricultural products that will be
sold, labelled or represented as organic in the United States. Israel joins
India, New Zealand, Quebec, United Kingdom, Denmark, British Colombia and
the Standards Council of Canada on the list of conformity assessment systems
recognised by USDA.
ISO/IEC
Guide 65 revision
- The ISO Conformity Assessment Committee (CASCO) agreed last week to
proceed with the revision of 'ISO65' in early 2007. Its revision is
expected to follow some of the changes made to ISO61 which resulted in
ISO17011.
Call
for comments
- IOAS invite comments on the performance (relevant to accreditation norms)
of the following certification bodies, about
to or are, currently undergoing evaluation or re-evaluation: ARANEA
of Sweden, Biokontroll of Hungary, CCPB of
Italy, GÄA
of Germany, ICEA of Italy, IMC of Italy, OCIA of USA (all against
IFOAM Norms) and Organska
Kontrola, Bosnia & Herzegovina (against IFOAM and ISO65).
IOAS
meetings
- IOAS are planning Board and Accreditation Committee meetings for 2007 in
Bangkok in March, Quebec City in June and Budapest in October.
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