IAN 2024-03: United States of America: USDA National Organic Program Strengthening Organic Enforcement Final Rule

Attention

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

Purpose

To raise awareness and inform Australia's organics industry of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Organic Program (NOP) Strengthening Organic Enforcement (SOE) Final Rule and effective date.

Key points

The USDA-NOP SOE Final Rule comes into effect on 19 March 2024.

The SOE Final Rule affects the production, movement, and trade of organic products into the United States.

Significant changes that form part of the SOE Final Rule, include, but are not limited to:

• Organic certification requirements for exporters and importers for importing organic product into the US, and other businesses within the supply chain.
• National Organic Program Import Certificates (electronic) must be included with shipment data (see MAA2023-09 for current departmental advice on this requirement).
• Certified operations will need to develop an organic fraud prevention plan.

For consideration

To see if you are affected by the SOE Final Rule, please read the SOE Final Rule, and SOE Final Rule Primers.

Operations impacted by the SOE Final Rule must note the 19 March 2024 effective date and ensure they are aware of the SOE Final Rule requirements. The department encourages affected operations to contact their organic certification body to ensure their preparedness.

Questions regarding the USDA-NOP certification requirements, USDA-NOP Import Certificate form, and organic fraud prevention plan requirements are to be directed to your organic approved certifying body.

A database of eligible USDA-NOP certifiers can be found here.

It is the exporter's responsibility to be aware of importing country requirements.

Background

On 20 March 2023, the USDA-NOP advised of amendments to the United States organic regulations to strengthen oversight and enforcement of the production, handling, and sale of organic agricultural products.

The amendments, known as the Strengthening Organic Enforcement (SOE) Final Rule, come into effect on 19 March 2024, following a 14-month implementation period.

The amendments aim to protect the integrity in the organic supply chain and build consumer and industry trust in the USDA organic label by strengthening organic control systems, improving farm to market traceability, and providing robust enforcement of the USDA organic regulations.

Additional resources

Further information and supporting documentation on the SOE Final Rule is available from the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service page on the Strengthening Organic Enforcement Final Rule which includes a fact sheet.
 

Further information

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

The information provided in this advice is current at the time of writing and is intended for use as guidance only and should not be taken as definitive or exhaustive. The Commonwealth endeavours to keep information current and accurate, however, it may be subject to change without notice. Exporters are encouraged to verify these details with their importers prior to undertaking production/exports. The Commonwealth will not accept liability for any loss resulting from reliance on information contained in this notice.