IAN 2024-02: Changes to Approved Certifying Bodies (Organics)

Attention

Organic operators and exporters, organic approved certifying bodies, industry bodies.

Purpose

To notify industry of the formal revocation of AUS-QUAL as an Approved Certifying Body on 15 February 2024.

Key points

On 31 July, AUSQUAL Pty Ltd withdrew from certification activities associated with the Australian National Standard for Organic and Bio-Dynamic Produce. AUSQUAL will no longer:

• assess organic and bio-dynamic operators to determine compliance to the National Standard for Organic and Bio-Dynamic Produce and importing country requirements,
• certify organic/bio-dynamic operators/exporters as compliant with Australia's export requirements, and
• issue organic goods certificates, prior to export, for consignments of organic and bio-dynamic goods exported from Australia.

Consideration

At the notification by AUS-QUAL of its intention to withdraw, the department along with all remaining Approved Certifying Bodies agreed to transition AUS-QUAL operators to the remaining approved certifiers, ensuring their certification status was maintained (where appropriate) and ensuring continuity for the export of organic and bio-dynamic goods.

The exit plan saw appropriate adjustments made by the department, under the mutual recognition policies, in the department's Administrative Arrangements for Approved Arrangements policy.

Background

The Export Control (Organic Goods) Rules 2021 enable the department to assess organic certifiers and formally recognise them as a holder of an approved arrangement for organic goods certification operations, that is, an approved certifying body. The Export Control Act 2020 enables the holder of an approved arrangement to request revocation.

Further information

Contact OrganicExports@aff.gov.au if you have any queries.