From December 16 to 18, 2010, the Certification and Accreditation Administration of the People's Republic of China held the 4th Organic Product Certification Technical Forum in Hangzhou. The meeting mainly had two topics:文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11278/
First, interpreting the newly revised national standard for Organic Products; introducing the revision status of the Measures for the Administration of Organic Product Certification and the Implementation Rules for Organic Product Certification, as well as the evaluation mechanism for input substances in organic product production, etc.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11278/
From the revisions of the Standard, the Administrative Measures, and the Implementation Rules, it can be seen that the state's certification management of organic product production, processing, operation, and sales has become more stringent and more standardized, and has reached the basic requirements for international alignment.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11278/
This revision highlights the word “strict.” Certification activity procedures such as on-site inspection, product testing, conversion period, and input substances have been uniformly standardized. For example:文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11278/
- In response to the practice by some institutions of arbitrarily shortening the conversion period, the new Standard requires that certification bodies may issue certification certificates only after 12 months from the first on-site inspection, and stipulates that for enterprises whose certification has been rejected, other certification bodies may not accept their certification applications within 12 months.
- In order to enhance the traceability of organic products, all certification bodies are required to introduce the use of sales certificates.
- In order to avoid confusion caused by chaotic labeling and consumer confusion, only the national mark is allowed on product packaging, and the use of certification body marks is no longer required.
- In principle, input substances not listed in the Standard are no longer allowed to be used. If they must be used, the certification body must report to the Certification and Accreditation Administration, and they may be used only after evaluation.
- Supervision of imported organic products shall be strengthened. All organic products entering China must be certified by certification bodies recognized by China.
- In order to standardize the scope of certified products, a catalog of organic product certification has been formulated. Products not included in the catalog may not be certified.
- At the same time, the entry threshold for certification bodies has been raised, new provisions have been put forward regarding the personnel, number, and professional requirements of certification bodies, and the approval of certification bodies' certification scope has been refined.
Second, the seminar also pointed out that China's organic product certification development is still in a period of major opportunity.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11278/
Since its establishment in 2001, the Certification and Accreditation Administration of the People's Republic of China has unified China's certification and accreditation organizational structure and working formulation, established a unified national accreditation system, and unified the accreditation work system. This has set China's accreditation work on a track of legalization and standardization. The Certification and Accreditation Administration has always attached great importance to food and agricultural product certification work. At present, it has established a video and agricultural product certification and accreditation system covering the entire process “from farm to table,” which has been listed as one of the three core tasks of the Certification and Accreditation Administration.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11278/
The Party Central Committee and the State Council attach great importance to the development of organic agriculture. The report of the Third Plenary Session of the Seventeenth Central Committee specifically pointed out support for the development of organic agriculture, and the No. 1 document of the State Council every year has also mentioned many times the vigorous development of organic agriculture. The Fifth Plenary Session of the Seventeenth Central Committee also once again emphasized that during the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” period, “adhering to building a resource-conserving and environment-friendly society as an important focus of accelerating the transformation of the economic development mode.” These policies are favorable guarantees for the development of organic agriculture.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11278/
At the same time, the number of organic certifications in China is still relatively small, which is extremely disproportionate to China's status as a major agricultural country and a major agricultural trading country. Each year, China exports only a few hundred million US dollars of organic products, while the European Union consumes as much as 34 billion euros of organic products each year. It can be said that China's development of organic agriculture has great prospects and is in the ascendant. In order to promote the development of organic agriculture, in 2011 the Certification and Accreditation Administration will, for the first time, carry out the creation of organic certification demonstration zones nationwide, which will fully mobilize the enthusiasm of local governments, thereby promoting the development of organic certification and food and agricultural product certification, setting an example for the standardized and healthy development of organic agriculture, vindicating the high-quality reputation of organic products, enabling people across the country to enjoy high-quality and reassuring organic products, promoting the substantial development of the organic industry, and making contributions to revitalizing the rural economy.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11278/