Organic product certification will have a unique code

Qualification Revocation for Non-compliant Certification
On November 2, the Certification and Accreditation Administration of the People's Republic of China (CNCA) exposed two organic products that failed spot checks.
The 2011 organic product supervision and spot check results released by the CNCA showed that “Baimaoling” organic green tea produced by Baiyunshan Tea Factory of Shanghai Yunling Industry and Trade Company in Langxi County, Anhui Province, and “Fengleyuan” organic chaste honey produced by Zhejiang Fengleyuan Bee Industry Co., Ltd. were non-compliant because pesticide (bifenthrin) or antibiotic (metronidazole) residues in the products exceeded the requirements of certification standards.
At present, the CNCA has notified relevant departments and units of the test results and required certification bodies to revoke the certification certificates of the non-compliant enterprises and products. Local quality inspection departments will investigate and handle the non-compliant products and their producing enterprises in accordance with the law.
In addition, in accordance with the State Council's “double crackdown” requirements, the CNCA recently also carried out a special rectification campaign against the forgery, fraudulent use, expired use, and use beyond the authorized scope of organic product certification certificates and marks. Quality inspection departments dispatched a total of 10,279 law enforcement personnel, inspected 845 sales venues and 1,610 certified enterprises, and found 69 violations.
A responsible person from the CNCA stated that the next step will also be to carry out “dragnet” inspections of food and agricultural product certification activities, severely crack down on illegal acts of counterfeiting, expired use, and use beyond the authorized scope of certification certificates and marks, and revoke the professional qualifications of certification bodies and certification personnel responsible for serious violations in accordance with the law. The number of organic product certification bodies in China has now decreased from 36 in 2004 to 23.
　　Certification Information Will Be Queryable
The CNCA also required local quality inspection departments to further strengthen the management of organic product certification marks. The CNCA required that each certification body should indicate the words “organic code” before the certification mark code and assign a unique code to each certification mark. At the same time, certification bodies are encouraged to adopt stricter anti-counterfeiting and traceability technical means on this basis to ensure that every certification mark issued by the body can be traced from the market to the corresponding certification certificate, product, and production enterprise, so as to achieve traceable information, anti-counterfeiting marks, and controllable quantities.
For certified products produced in large quantities on automated assembly lines, certified organizations shall adopt technical means to mark the certification mark code on retail packaging or products. Before printing product labels, certified organizations shall submit the label style, printing quantity, and certification mark code to the certification body for review and filing, so as to ensure that the use of certification marks complies with the requirements of the Measures for the Administration of Organic Product Certification and the national standards for organic products.
To facilitate identification by consumers and regulatory authorities, the CNCA will establish a certification mark filing information database, and each certification body shall promptly transmit to this database information such as the code of each certification mark issued and the use of the certification mark. The CNCA will provide a unified query method for this database.
　　Strengthen Supervision and Conduct Random Inspections at Any Time
The CNCA also required certification bodies to strictly select units undertaking the printing of certification marks in accordance with requirements. At the same time, they should strengthen the management of certification mark printing units, urge printing units to establish ledgers for the receipt and dispatch of certification marks, and resolutely put an end to unauthorized printing and indiscriminate issuance of certification marks by certification mark printing units.
Each certification body shall establish a ledger for the issuance of certification marks and strictly control the issuance volume of certification marks in accordance with the quantity of certified products. At the same time, it shall urge certified organizations to establish ledgers for the use of certification marks and, by means of notified or unnotified inspections, inspect the use of certification marks by certified organizations to ensure that the quantity of certified products matches the use volume of certification marks.
The CNCA pointed out that each certification body shall, every year, regularly or irregularly verify through market sampling whether relevant organizations use certification marks lawfully and in a standardized manner. For those using certification marks in violation of regulations, the certification certificate of the organization shall be promptly suspended or revoked; in serious cases, a timely report shall be made to the local certification regulatory department so that the relevant regulatory department can further investigate the legal liability of the relevant parties.
The CNCA emphasized that before November 30, 2011, all bodies must submit to the CNCA for filing the certification mark management plans formulated according to the above requirements and the list of certification mark printing units.
The certification mark management plans formulated by each certification body shall be implemented before March 1, 2012. For certified organizations that refuse to use certification marks in accordance with requirements, the certification body shall suspend or revoke their certification certificates. For certified organizations that have already received certification marks or printed labels that have not yet been used up, the certification body shall strengthen supervision of the certified organization's use of certification marks and urge the certified organization to use them up before December 31, 2012.
A responsible person from the CNCA stated that if any person from any sector of society discovers suspected violations in organic product certification activities, they are welcome to call 12365 to make complaints or reports. (Information source: People's Daily Online)文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/en/11343/