Update on New Canada Organic Product Regulation

The Canada Organic Office (COO) of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has announced that implementation date of the new regulations will be June 30, 2009. This is approximately a 6-month delay from previous announcements. During this time we expect there will be a revised regulation introduced and a 75 day comment period on that regulation (includes a new Canada Organic logo).

Under the regulations the COO will be accrediting Certification Bodies and Conformity Verification Bodies (formerly Accreditation Bodies) for the new organic regime in Canada. The Organic Trade Association has a preliminary list of those bodies on their website http://www.ota.com/index.html. Note the list is not finalized and subject to change.

During the past 18 months there has also been efforts underway to revise the Canada Organic Standard. There are many edits and clarifications within the standards and some additional substances within the Permitted Substances List but in most sections I would not expect organic producers and processors to see major changes but there are some changes. These new standards are expected to be introduced in a few months. Stay tuned.

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