(NAR) VOL. 24 NO. 1 / JANUARY - MARCH 2013
WHEREAS, Section 15 of Republic Act (R.A) 10068 otherwise known as the Organic Agriculture Act of 2010 mandates the Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Product Standards to grant official accreditation to Organic Certifying Bodies in accordance to the Philippine National Standards for Organic Agriculture and related standards;
IN VIEW THEREOF, this Guideline replaces Administrative Order No. 13 series of 2003 and Administrative Order No. 7 Series of 2011 and sets forth the revised rules and regulations for granting Accreditation of Organic Certifying Bodies (OCBs).
I. SCOPE
1. | These guidelines provide general policies and procedures for certifying bodies (CBs) seeking accreditation from the Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Products Standards (BAFPS). |
2. | BAFPS shall apply these guidelines to determine and maintain accreditation of certifying agents to the National Organic Agriculture Program (NOAP). |
3. | This regulation applies to organic certifying bodies, including private business organizations, cooperatives, non-government organizations, people's organizations, foundations and civic-religious organizations who wish to obtain, maintain, or renew accreditation, including applicants with pending applications as of date of effectivity. |
II. DEFINITION[1]
Accreditation - Third party attestation related to conformity assessment body conveying formal demonstration of its competence to carry out specific conformity assessment tasks. (ISO IEC 17011/2004)
Certification - Procedure by which official certification bodies or officially recognized certification bodies provide written or equivalent assurance that foods or food control systems conform to requirements. Certification of food may be, as appropriate, based on a range of inspection activities which may include continuous on-line inspection, auditing of quality assurance systems and examination of finished products (Reference Codex Alimentarius Commission GL 20-1995)
Certification Body - A body which is responsible for verifying that a product sold or labeled as “organic” is produced, processed, prepared, handled and imported according to the prescribed guidelines (Codex Alimentarius Commission GL 32- 1999)
Inspection - Examination of food or food systems for control of food, raw materials, processing and distribution including in-process and finished product testing, in order to verify that they conform to requirements (Reference Codex Alimentarius Commission GL 20-1995)
Non-conformity - Non-fulfillment of a requirement (ISO 9000:2000)
III. CRITERIA FOR ACCREDITATION
1. | Must not be engaged in the production of organic agriculture at the time of the application for accreditation and during the lifetime of the accreditation authority as certifying body; |
2. | Must not provide consultancy services to certification applicants to overcome identified barriers to certification; |
3. | Must have been engaged in organic agriculture production or related extension services for at least three (3) years; |
4. | Must have undergone training in organic certification; |
5. | Must be able to deploy at least one (1) inspector per region; |
6. | Must have at least one (1) satellite office or processing unit each in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao in case of only one (1) accredited certifying body in the country; |
7. | Must have financial resources to undertake certification activities in its coverage areas; |
8. | Must have clean track record in its financial dealings in their previous transactions; |
9. | Must comply with the general requirements for Organic Food Certification (ANNEX 1) in accordance to ISO/IEC GUIDE 17065:2012 (General Requirements for Bodies Operating Product Certification System), including the conduct of inspection work outlined in the organization’s Operating Manual of Certification Procedures. |
IV. PROCEDURES FOR ACCREDITATION
1. | Application for Accreditation The applicant shall submit to the Director of BAFPS the following:
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2. | Conduct of Evaluation and Verification The National Accreditation Committee shall conduct evaluation, inspection and interviews to validate the applicant-institution's submitted documents in accordance to the standard operations and procedures for accreditation of organic certification bodies as prescribed by the Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Product Standards. | ||
3. | Grant of Accreditation
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4. | Provisional Accreditation
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5. | Validity The Accreditation shall be valid for three (3) years, after which the CB is required to renew its accreditation. | ||
6. | Responsibility of the Certification Body. Organizations accredited to conduct certification are responsible for:
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7. | Report Accredited Organic Certifying Bodies (OCBs) are required to submit year-end and other periodic reports of the activity undertaken. Failure to comply with the requirement shall be a basis for the revocation of accreditation that shall further deprive the institution to participate in future undertaking. | ||
8. | Revocation of Accreditation | ||
A. | Grounds. The Director of BAFPS upon complaint or in its own instance, shall after notice and hearing, suspend or revoke accreditations already granted on the following grounds: i. Non-compliance with the PNS for Organic Agriculture; | ||
B. | Procedure When a certifying body fails to comply with the requirements for accreditation as described in the Guidelines, the Accreditation Committee through the BAFPS will notify the certifying agent and require corrective actions to be submitted within a specified time period, usually 30 to 60 days. If the certifier provides appropriate corrective actions or successfully rebuts the finding of the noncompliance within the prescribed time period, the Accreditation Committee will clear the noncompliance. However, if a certifying agent persists in failing to meet the requirements for accreditation[2], the Accreditation Committee through the BAFPS may issue a Notice of Proposed Suspension or Notice of Proposed Revocation to the certifying agent. A Notice of Suspension may be issued for any failure to correct identified noncompliance to the guidelines. A Notice of Revocation may be issued for ongoing noncompliance or for noncompliance that appear to be willful on the part of the certifying agent. From the time the certifier receives the notice, the certifier will have 30 days to file an appeal with the BAFPS. If the certifier appeals the Notice of Proposed Suspension or Notice of Proposed Revocation to the BAFPS, the BAFPS will reserve action on the suspension or revocation until the Accreditation Committee has issued a decision on the appeal. The certifier’s accreditation will remain valid until final action is determined by the Accreditation Committee. | ||
C. | Surrendering Accreditation Accredited certifiers who no longer wish to maintain their accreditation must surrender their accreditation by submitting a written notification of such to the BAFPS. Certifiers who wish to surrender their accreditation should work with any remaining certified clients and arrange to transfer their certification to another accredited certifier. | ||
D. | Cessation of Certification Activities A certifying agent whose accreditation is surrendered, suspended or revoked must: | ||
(1) | Cease all certification activities in each area of accreditation which its accreditation is surrendered, suspended or revoked; | ||
(2) | Transfer to the BAFPS Secretary and make available all records concerning its certification activities that were surrendered, suspended or revoked. |
IV. National Accreditation Committee
1. | COMPOSITION The National Accreditation Committee shall be chaired by the Director of BAFPS and members shall be drawn from the following agencies:
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The Chair may call upon other relevant agencies to serve as resource persons and/or to assist the Committee in the evaluation and verification procedures. | |
2. | TERMS OF REFERENCE The Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Product Standards accredits the organic certification agencies in compliance with Republic Act 10068 and its IRR. RA 10068 and its IRR assigns responsibility for execution of the Accreditation Program in accordance to this Guidelines to the Director of BAFPS, which serves as the Chair of the National Accreditation Committee (NAC). CHAIRPERSON. The BAFPS Director has final decision and authority for granting accreditation to organic certification bodies and issuing the final determination on appeals. NAC Members. The National Accreditation Committee members are responsible for conducting certain activities with regard to accreditation of organic certification agencies. These activities include:
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Secretariat. The BAFPS shall serve as the Administrative and Technical Secretariat for the National Accreditation Committee, and is responsible for:
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V. SEPARABILITY CLAUSE
Should any provision of this Guideline or any part thereof be declared invalid, the other provisions, so far as they are separable, shall remain in force and effect.
VI. EFFECTIVITY
This Guideline shall take effect fifteen (15) days after filing with the University of the Philippines Law Center.
This Order shall take effect immediately.
(SGD.) PROSPERO J. ALCALA
Secretary
[2] i.e. non-compliance with the Philippine National Standards; and/or wilful and fraudulent practices affecting the integrity of the certification program