USDA’s organic program (NOP) is changing the face of the protocols followed over imports from India. Recently, USDA has planned to null out the recognition and certification agreement where Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority accredited certifiers were allowed to provide certification in India.
It must be noted that The APEDA is an apex body under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of the government of India. The decision has another face of it allowing the direct application of the FBOs to seek approval from the authority.
Under this all the organic procedures happening under APEDA will have to seek direct certification from USDA USDA-accredited certifiers to the USDA organic standards. As Certification by USDA-accredited certifiers are necessary for products exported from India to the United States.
During this bracket, USDA will be working closely with counterparts be it APEDA, or orgainc operations going on will be looked directly for the compliances it needs to get the procedure certified.
The timetable for how the transition will work is:
By July 12, 2021, to continue to export to the United States, current organic operations in India will need to have applied for certification with a USDA-accredited organic certifier.
By mid-March 2021, authoritarian certifiers will be able to list these organic operations applicants in India in the Organic Integrity Database, to help U.S. buyers verify that a farm or business in India has applied for NOP certification.
After July 12, 2022, USDA organic certification by an-accredited certifier will be required to import organic products from India to the United States.
APEDA-accredited certifiers may apply to NOP for direct accreditation by the authority’s organic program at any time.
Organic certifiers and operations in India are responsible for ensuring compliance to any additional Government of India export requirements, including TraceNet reporting and documentation.
