IFOAM Organic Certification Program
Background
IFOAM (International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements) norms are a set of standards developed by the organic community to help acheive global consistency in organic standards and certification. The
IFOAM Basic Standards and IFOAM
Accreditation criteria provide the
framework for accredited certification
bodies and standard setting organizations worldwide to develop
similar international organic standards.
CCOF was accredited by IFOAM from 1998 to 2009 and provided IFOAM certification as portion of its Global Market Access program. The IFOAM standards themselves are similar to EU standards but include a number of unique provisions.
Historically, IFOAM certification has been required by specific buyers or EU member states when EU certification was not available. In addition, IFOAM certification has been recognized by some nations without national standards or used as a basis for the development of their national standards. In the Spring 2009 issue of Certified Organic CCOF included the article below. Subsequently, CCOF withdrew from IFOAM accreditation with the following announcement on 10/28/09:
CCOF Withdrawal from IFOAM Program
We are writing to inform you of CCOF's recent decision to withdraw from the IFOAM accreditation program. There is nothing for you to do at this time and we do not expect this to affect you in any significant way.
As discussed in the Spring issue of CCOF's magazine and subsequent Spring Certification E-Newsletter, we have decided that it's in the best long-term interests of CCOF's certified clients to no longer perform IFOAM certification within our larger Global Market Access (GMA) program effective January 1, 2010. Certification to IFOAM standards is not required for access to any foreign market. Through our GMA program, CCOF will continue to offer EU Equivalency verification for European market access and will continue to provide verification to other international standards, including those needed for access to Japan, Taiwan and Canada.
This change will provide CCOF with additional resources to address other pressing international trade issues, while reducing inspection and compliance costs and time for you. If your products are shipped to the EU, you should only be required to maintain EU equivalency certification with CCOF. If you have attained this, you can find it on your current GMA certificate or CCOF client profile.
The vast majority of CCOF clients with IFOAM certification also maintain EU equivalency certification, which should meet the needs of foreign buyers. If you have buyers or foreign certifiers who have expressed a preference for IFOAM certification, please notify us so that we can help you communicate with them. If your buyer is a CCOF client, they will no longer be required by CCOF to verify IFOAM from their suppliers. Therefore, this should not be an issue. More information about CCOF's GMA program can be found at www.ccof.org/international.php. For more information about CCOF's EU certifications, visit www.ccof.org/eu.php.
If you have questions or concerns, please email us at export@ccof.org.
Article from Spring 2009 Certified Organic: "We Need to Hear From You: Should CCOF Continue to Offer IFOAM Certification?"
CCOF’s Global Market Access (GMA) program is often thought of as the “IFOAM program”. In actuality, CCOF’s international program started with IFOAM (International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements) but has, over the years, evolved considerably to where IFOAM is merely a part of a much larger international program. The CCOF GMA program now incorporates certification to European Union (EU) standards, Japanese Export, Canadian Standards and Quebec Organic Labeling issues. IFOAM certification and its associated accreditation has lost relevance for CCOF members over the years as these other international standards have taken precedence. Now, we find ourselves faced with a question as to whether the original IFOAM program is still cost-effective and relevant to all parties involved.
European regulators require documentation regarding EU standards but typically do not request IFOAM certification from CCOF clients in order to allow their products into EU nations. CCOF has worked hard to ensure that the EU’s EEC standard is clearly shown in our GMA documents, further reducing the relevance of IFOAM compliance.
At this time, CCOF is not aware of a single nation, and very few buyers, that require IFOAM certification to accept organic products. As new national regulations develop, CCOF continually finds itself thinly stretched to provide many different organic certifications at once. Further, we acknowledge the difficulty that organic producers face when they must continually meet these different standards. Therefore, we believe that if a standard is not actively required for trade, CCOF clients should not be asked to jump through yet more hoops to meet it.
We have observed that IFOAM certification increasingly facilitates trade between the EU and developing world countries that lack national regulations. In this circumstance, IFOAM functions as the global sourcing standard of the EU; however, this does not necessarily provide a compelling benefit to CCOF clients. In addition, IFOAM accreditation is relatively costly and time consuming, while the standard has not evolved significantly to keep up with changes in the US and EU organic standards. As a result, CCOF continually finds itself with shifting certification and accreditation requirements, which forces changes on CCOF clients just as they are becoming familiar with previous requirements. Our concentration is then forced away from service and into addressing IFOAM’s concerns. Therefore, CCOF is actively considering elimination of IFOAM certification as a component in CCOF’s GMA program.
This is not expected to result in any loss of market access to CCOF clients and should result in better service and increased capacity to address new national regulations as they develop elsewhere in the world. CCOF needs to hear from you regarding whether your buyers, or their certifiers, specifically request or value IFOAM certification of your products and IFOAM accreditation of CCOF. Please email your comments and concerns to jake@ ccof.org and indicate the specific buyers, certifiers or nations you are concerned about. We hope to make this decision in 2009 and need your input if you have concerns or support the decision."
CCOF continues to consider this question and welcomes your input.
Please call CCOF at (831) 423-2263 or email us at export@ccof.org with any international organic marketplace questions. |
