Export Control (Organic Produce certification) Orders Review - background paper

Purpose

The Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) is working on a review of the Orders which includes input from stakeholders. Stakeholder feedback will enable AQIS to implement legislation that is effective but also ensures importing country requirements are met. The information provided here relates to the summary paper and questionnaire about this matter.

Background

The Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) is the central competent authority for the export of products certified and labelled as organic and biodynamic. AQIS is responsible for the administration of the Export Control (Organic Produce Certification) Orders (the Orders), the AQIS Administrative Arrangements for Approved Certifying Organisations Operating Inspection and Certification Activities for Australian Organic and Bio-Dynamic Produce (Administrative Arrangements) and the National Standard for Organic and Bio-Dynamic Produce (National Standard).
AQIS has approved seven certifying organisations to conduct annual inspections and certification services of operators certified to produce organic and bio-dynamic products for export. The seven AQIS approved certifying organisations are:

• AUS-QUAL Limited (AUSQUAL)
• Australian Certified Organic (ACO)
• Bio-Dynamic Research Institute (BDRI)
• NASAA Certified Organic (NCO)
• Organic Food Chain (OFC)
• Safe Food Production Queensland (SFQ)
• Tasmanian Organic-dynamic Producers (TOP)

The AQIS Administrative Arrangements, the National Standard, and the Orders are currently used as the basis for the export of organic and biodynamic products to most overseas countries and form the basis for overseas market access negotiations.

The Administrative Arrangements

The AQIS Administrative Arrangements¹ outline the requirements for interpretation and application of the National Standard by all AQIS approved certifying organisations. These Administrative Arrangements have been based on ISO/IEC (Guide) 65, which is an internationally recognised and adopted standard for organic certification systems.
All certifying organisations must have a documented Quality Management (QM) system which details the responsibilities and duties, procedures and policies of their organisation.

National Standard

The National Standard² was first implemented in 1992 as the Australian export standard for products labelled organic or bio-dynamic. Since inception it has provided the organic industry with a nationally agreed Standard for export purposes.

The National Standard³ provides a framework for the organic industry covering production, processing, transportation, labelling and importation. Furthermore the Standard aims to ensure conditions of fair competition in the market place by distinguishing those products produced according to this Standard from those produced by other means. Use of this Standard provides transparency and credibility for the industry and aims to protect the consumer against deception and fraud.

The Orders

The Orders⁴ ensure that produce displaying ‘organic’, ‘bio-dynamic’, ‘biological’, ‘ecological’ or any other word of similar indication is not exported unless the produce is from a system that complies with the National Standard and the laws of an importing country. Under this arrangement, the export of produce labelled as ‘organic’, ‘bio-dynamic’, ‘biological’, ‘ecological’ or any other word of similar indication is prohibited unless an organic produce certificate has been issued.

Regulatory Mark

At the request of the Organic Industry Export Consultative Committee, AQIS developed a regulatory mark4 for use on Australian certified produce for export. This mark was issued under an Instrument of Approval for use by certified operators on a voluntary basis. Since its publication in 2004, there have been no certified operators using this Regulatory Mark on the labels of organic and biodynamic products for export. However some organic operators have been using an alternative “Regulatory Mark”(shown below). This mark is an unapproved mark under current legislation and operators have been instructed to cease using the mark as of 30 June 2011.

Considerations

1. The Commonwealth Government Legislative Instruments Act 2003 stipulates that a review of legislation must be completed under a sun-setting period of every 10 years from the date of commencement.

2. The Orders were finalised in 1997 and gazetted, they were reviewed in 2005 with minor amendments made to accommodate changes to the Export Control (Prescribed Goods – General) Orders (PGGO). A further review of the Orders commenced in late 2008 in consultation with industry via the seven AQIS approved certifying organisations. This review identified several areas of the Orders where legislative amendments were required. In summary these included:

• Issuing Organic Produce Certificates
• Certification of organic operators
• Approval of certifying organisations
• Other legislation
• Use of a Government logo for export
• Consistent terminology throughout legislative documents

Refer to Attachment 1 for an expanded explanation of the proposed amendments.

3. A robust export system will help facilitate trade of local certified produce.

4. There is no clear linkage between the Orders, the National Standard for Organic and Bio-Dynamic Produce and the AQIS Administrative Arrangements. At times, this lack of a clear linkage has been questioned by overseas authorities.

5. The Australian Standard for Organic and Biodynamic Products developed by Standards Australia⁵ was published in October 2009.

6. The Orders currently mandate that all exports of organic produce must be accompanied by an Organic Produce Certificate (OPC). As some overseas countries do not require government-to-government certification, consideration will be given to amend the mandate for those countries that do not require organic produce certificates.

7. Due to AQIS repealing the use of the regulatory mark as of 30 June 2011; industry representatives have requested AQIS to consider a new official mark⁶ for export to maintain the integrity of Australian produce certified by AQIS approved certifying organisations. The growing number of private certification schemes results in an increase in the quantity of certified products/inputs. Some of these products have the potential to disrupt trade in certified products to established markets.

8. Key overseas markets such as United States, Europe and Japan have implemented protocols relating to the application of official marks on certified products which conform to their laws.

^{1 Approved Certifying Organisations
2 Approved Certifying Organisations
3 www.daff.gov.au/aqis/quarantine/legislation/export
4 Regulatory mark means a voluntary mark for use on Australian organic and biodynamic product labels for export
5 Standards Australia website
6 Official mark means any stamp, seal, label or mark that is declared by the regulations to be an official mark (as per Export Control Act)}

Attachment 1

Amendments Considered in the review of the Export Control (Organic Produce Certification) Orders

The following table contains a list of items considered in the 2008-09 review process of the Orders.