Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
organic products has indeed become a nightmare. This section outlines particular features of
the private accreditation program and the key governmental conformity assessment processes,
focusing mainly on the EU system.
IFOAM's accreditation program run by the IOAS is implemented according to the IFOAM's
accreditation criteria that are revised periodically. Given that IBS are standards for standards,
it is a requirement of IFOAM accredited certification bodies to develop their own standards
for certification, based on IBS.
The IFOAM accreditation program has grown from three accredited certification bodies in
1994 to 32 as of December 2004. In addition to IFOAM accreditation, the IOAS also offers
International Organization for Standardization ISO Guide 65 accreditation as a way to add
value to the services provided to organic certification bodies. Any certification body can apply
for IFOAM accreditation, be they private or state-run. One of the newest accredited certifica-
tion bodies is the Washington State Department of Agriculture Organic Food Program
(Commins 2003, IOAS 2004b).
As an international accreditation program, the IFOAM program has been working to
ensure mutual recognition among its accredited certification bodies, facilitating international
trade and consumer acceptance of organically certified products. In order to strengthen recog-
nition of IFOAM accreditation among traders and consumers, the IFOAM seal was launched
in 1999 to be used in conjunction with the logo of accredited certification bodies (Commins
2003). Furthermore, a mutual recognition agreement among IFOAM accredited certification
bodies was developed as a way to facilitate acceptance of products certified by one accredited
certification body into another market. However, its implementation has been hampered by
perceived quality differences among the accredited certification bodies. The trade implica-
tions of this lack of coordination are significant, and weaken the appeal of the private interna-
tional accreditation system as a harmonised regulatory solution.
Given that the IOAS is a non-governmental organisation operating an international accred-
itation program, it is a rarity in the world of conformity assessment, dominated by the Interna-
tional Accreditation Forum and its members as national accreditation bodies. In order to
demonstrate its competence to the largely government-run verification systems, it sought and
gained recognition by the United States National Institute of Standards and Technology, a
non-regulatory federal agency within the US Commerce Department's Technology Adminis-
tration in August 2004. This recognition is based on an evaluation of the IOAS against ISO/
IED Guide 61 covering accreditation for both IFOAM norms and ISO/IEC 65 (IOAS 2004a).
Unlike the IFOAM accreditation program, government-run conformity assessment systems
mainly operate at a national level, with no multilateral arrangements in place to facilitate trade
of organically certified products recognised by one country into a second country. This has led
to a situation in which a certification body operating in one country needs to obtain accredita-
tion after accreditation to enable the products that it certifies to enter into multiple markets as
organic.
As the first fully elaborated regulation, the EU Council Regulation 2092/91 established a
conformity assessment system that 'allows for recognition of private certification bodies by a
designated authority according to specified criteria'. In establishing their regulations, other
countries have generally followed this example with departments of agriculture usually taking
on the responsibility of the designated authority (Commins 2003).
A defining aspect of the EU recognition system is that it was developed to be applicable
only to EU-based certification bodies. Within the EU, certified organic products that meet the
regulations can be freely marketed across all EU countries. For organic products from third
countries, additional steps are required. Article 11 (1) and 11 (2) allow for countries to be listed
as having rules in compliance with EC Regulations. After comprehensive assessment, such
