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Regulators and
regulations
Organic agriculture and manufacturing is now regulated by
governments in many countries of the world. The legislation may be fully
implemented as in the major markets of the European Union, Japan and the USA
or in various stages of development and implementation as in Canada, Mexico
and Peru for example. In countries where no legislation exists which
regulates the use of the label 'organic' (or its equivalent), organic
farmers may still operate and be certified by private entities working in
line with rules established in the target markets.
European Union
The European Union regulation 2092/91 was
first published in 1991 and has undergone many amendments. The most recent
consolidated version of the regulation is available from the EU Lex web site
here.
The European Parliament is the
ultimate law maker in the Union which is currently made up of 27 member
countries. The European Commission draft amendments and oversee
implementation with the Member States required to establish systems of
control and surveillance with reporting to the Commission.
The regulation currently covers food
products of plant and animal origin only and does not cover non food items
such as textiles or cosmetics. Various
mechanisms for regulating imports have been implemented but these have been
modified since December 2006 (see EC
1991/2006) and the exact rules
for implementation are expected to be clarified during 2007. Routes of
compliance and equivalence are available. A
wider revision is also underway which is expected to be implemented from
2009. The framework of the new regulation envisages conformity with EC
882/2004, allows for some flexibility and aims to reduce trade barriers based
on standards differences. Agreement was reached on the new text on June 12,
2007 and is published as
EC 834/2007. The new regulation will extend scope to cover aquaculture, wine,
seaweed and yeast but not restaurants.
USA
Although the US Congress passed the 'Organic Foods Production Act'
(OFPA) in 1990 which required the US Department of Agriculture
to develop national standards for organically produced agricultural products,
the so-called National Organic Programme (NOP) was not published and
approved until 2001. Basically the OFPA
and the NOP regulations require that agricultural products labeled as
organic originate from farms or handling operations certified by a State or
private entity that has been accredited by USDA. The NOP rule is split into
several sections:
Certification standards establish the requirements that organic
production and handling operations must meet to become accredited by
USDA-accredited certifying agents. Farms and handling operations that sell
less than $5,000 a year in organic agricultural products are exempt from
certification. They may label their products organic if they abide by the
standards, but they cannot display the USDA Organic Seal. Retail operations,
such as grocery stores and restaurants, do not have to be certified.
Accreditation standards establish the requirements an
applicant must meet in order to become a USDA-accredited certifying agent.
The standards are designed to ensure that all organic certifying agents act
consistently and impartially. Only the USDA can directly approve
certification bodies. However, the USDA can recognise a foreign government
system conformity assessment system as sufficient to supervise foreign
certification bodies implementing the NOP standard.
Japan
The Japanese Agricultural Standard for Organic Agricultural Products and
Organic Agricultural Processed Products were published in 2000 and came
into effect in April 2001. The Japanese Ministry of Agriculture (MAFF) is responsible for its implementation.
In November 2005 MAFF added livestock products, livestock
processed products and livestock feeds.
The JAS system involves the approval of certification
bodies in Japan and overseas, much like the US system. Only operators
certified by a JAS approved certifying body may apply the JAS organic
label.
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