AQSIQ Issues Measures to Strengthen Organic Product Certification Administration

The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine recently issued the Measures for the Administration of Organic Product Certification, aiming to strengthen the administration of organic product certification, safeguard the lawful rights and interests of consumers, producers and sellers, and further improve the quality of organic products.
The Measures specify that the Certification and Accreditation Administration of the People's Republic of China shall be responsible for the unified administration, supervision and comprehensive coordination of organic product certification nationwide. The State shall implement a unified organic product certification system, applying a unified certification catalogue, unified standards and certification implementation rules, and a unified certification mark.
With respect to certification implementation, the Measures specify that processed products with an organic ingredient content (referring to weight or liquid volume, excluding water and salt) equal to or greater than 95% may only be labeled with the word “organic” on the product or on the product packaging and labels, and bear the organic product certification mark, after obtaining organic product certification. Certification bodies shall not conduct organic certification for processed products with an organic ingredient content lower than 95%.
With respect to certification certificates and certification marks, the Measures specify various circumstances under which a certification body shall revoke a certification certificate within 7 days, including: prohibited substances under the national standards for organic products are used in the production or processing activities of the certified product, or the certified product is contaminated by prohibited substances; the certification client of the certified product falsely reports or conceals information required for certification; the certification client of the certified product uses the certification mark beyond the permitted scope; and so on.
The Measures also specify that where organic product certification has not been obtained, or where a certified product has undergone further processing, sub-packaging or division outside the production or processing premises indicated in the certification certificate, no unit or individual may label on the product, the smallest sales package of the product, or its labels any textual expressions or patterns containing words such as “organic” or “ORGANIC” that may mislead the public into believing that the product is an organic product.
With respect to supervision and administration, the Measures provide that certification clients of certified products, as well as units and individuals selling organic products, shall establish a sound product quality and safety traceability system and a production, processing and sales record archiving system during the processes of production, processing, packaging, storage, transportation and sales of products. Where a certification client of a certified product provides false information, illegally uses prohibited substances, uses the organic certification mark beyond the permitted scope, or causes a major product quality and safety accident, the certification body shall not accept organic product certification applications from that enterprise and its production bases and processing premises within 5 years.
In addition, the Measures specify penalties for violations. Where a certification certificate is forged, altered, fraudulently used, illegally traded, transferred or tampered with, the local certification supervision department shall order correction and impose a fine of 30,000 yuan.Artikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11442/