Challenges to Organic Trade

Organic Standards and Technical Regulations

• 70 countries with organic regulations of some type

• Some standards only• Some, standards plus control of certification• Some regulate export but not domestic

• + Private organic standards and labeling

• 480 organic certification bodies worldwide, but little to no access to domestic certification in some countries.

• Few equivalence agreements or other trade facilitating mechanisms

Organic Standards and Technical Regulations

• All resulting in barriers to organic trade and missed opportunities

• Developing countries are especially challenged

Growth and change in international markets

Seeking Global Solutionsthe “ITF”

International Task Force on Harmonization and Equivalence in

Organic Agriculture (ITF)

• Convened by FAO, IFOAM and UNCTAD from 2002-2008

• Public-Private Cooperation– 29 countries– 7 intergovernmental organizations

– 27 civil society/private sector representatives

ITF GOALS

•Reduce organic trade barriers

•facilitate international organic trade and access of developing countries to international organic markets

ITF APPROACH

• Be a platform for dialogue between private and public institutions involved in trade and regulatory activities in the organic sector

• Common understanding of opportunities for harmonization, recognition, equivalence and other forms of cooperation within and between government and private sector organic control systems

ITF Recommendations

– Harmonize standards development. (Regional standards)

– Facilitate and Streamline Equivalence Globally

– Recognize Foreign Certification Bodies based on internationally agreed performance requirements

– Cooperate with others (governments, private sector)

Facilitating Equivalence: ITF “Tools”

ITF produced two practical tools for assessing equivalence of organic standards and certification systems

AIM is to simplify and standardize the equivalence assessment process internationally

ITF Tools

• Equivalent Standards ?

Guide for Assessing Equivalence of Organic Standards and Technical Regulations

EquiTool

What is EquiTool?

• Guidelines for assessing equivalence between two or more standards for organic production/processing;

• Elements- standardized procedures to use for the

assessment

- framework for assessing standards based on a set of Common Objectives and Requirements of Organic Standards

(COROS) under development

COROS will help us get away from detailed line-by-line comparisons between two standards.

ITF Tools

• Equivalent Certification Performance Requirements ?

International Requirements for Organic Certification Bodies

(IROCB)

What is IROCB ?• A set of minimum international performance

requirements (norms) for conducting organic certification.

• Used by governments to recognize that foreign certification bodies operate to equivalent performance requirements.

• Also useful for CB to CB recognition. recognition in the private sector

• Developed by ITF through comprehensive government and private stakeholder consultation

How would a government use

IROCB ?• Step 1: Accept IROCB as a reasonable

international common denominator for accepting foreign certification.

• Step 2 : Require foreign government and/or CB to demonstrate that the certification

performance requirements it uses or operates under meets IROCB)

Aim is that there is one evaluation based on IROCB and that one evaluation can achieve import access in multiple countries

Global Organic Market Access

A project of FAO, IFOAM and UNCTAD

Purpose

• Implement results of the ITF (Tools)

• Promote harmonization, equivalence, cooperation among governments

• Assist at region and country level

Some GOMA Actors

• Canada: Canada Food Inspection Agency (CFIA)

• Central America: Organization of Competent Authorities for Organic Agriculture, Central America/Panama/Dominican Republic (ACAO) in cooperation with IICA.

• China: Certification and Accreditation Administration (CNCA)

• India: Agricultural and Processed Food Export Development

Authority (APEDA)

• Philippines: Department of Agriculture, BAFS, Organic Program

Some Key GOMA Work Spaces

• Pilot Projects to Simplify Equivalence (using Tools)– Philippines-Indonesia– Canada – Australia

• New Regional Initiatives on Harmonization & Equivalence– Central America - Harmonized Regional Standards

Project

– Asia - Building a strategy to support trade flow of organic products within and beyond the region

UPDATE

Regional Initiatives

CENTRAL AMERICA

• Harmonized Regional Organic Regulatory System

standards, certification requirements, supervision

• Final draft February 2011

Asia

• Framework for Cooperation on Organic Labeling and Trade (South, South-East, East Asia)

Asia Framework for Cooperation

Elements• Bilateral equivalence discussions using Tools

• Development of Asia Regional Organic Standards (AROS), as basis for long term equivalence and harmonization

• Cooperation between regulating and non- regulating countries (e.g. India-Bhutan)

• Aim for a Multilateral recognition agreement (with flexibility for participation of both regulating and non- regulating countries)

Asia Framework for Cooperation

Potential Participating Governments Bhutan China India Indonesia Laos Malaysia Philippines Thailand Vietnam

Asia Framework for Cooperation

Asia Regional Organic Standard Development• Drafting Group, Manila, March 2011 Draft 1 • Consultation

• Drafting Group, Hanoi, June 2011 Draft 2 • Consultation

• Drafting Group, November 2011 Final AROS

• Announce at GOMA Conference 2012

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE13-14 February 2012

Nuremberg Messe

Let Good Products Flow!

www.goma-organic.org