SFCS LLC of Mongolia has recently applied to the IOAS for accreditation under the IFOAM accreditation scheme. The IOAS publicize these applications to increase accreditation transparency. If you would like to comment on the performance of this CB on issues relevant to their application, please contact the IOAS at info@ioas.org

The Government of Canada is expanding its organic equivalency arrangement with Japan. Beginning August 31, 2023, organic alcoholic beverages will be included in this arrangement. The original equivalency arrangement between Canada and Japan came into effect on January 1, 2015, and recognizes the organic production and certification systems in each country as equivalent. In July,

AUS-QUAL Pty. Ltd. of Australia has voluntary withdrawn from its accreditation under the ISO/IEC 17065:2012 for National Standard for Organic and Bio-Dynamic Produce Edition 3.8 accreditation programme as of July 31st, 2023. Any operations, certification bodies and authorities that relied on this accreditation are asked to take note.

Freshcare has undergone extensive participant and industry stakeholder consultation, to make positive changes to the unannounced audit requirements in the Standards; Food Safety & Quality 4.2 and Supply Chain 2. Changes to Food Safety & Quality Standard 4.2:  Certification Bodies are now only required to conduct unannounced audits on 10%

IOAS were co-organizer/sponsor of the Asia Pacific Accreditation Forum (APAC) annual general meeting that took place in Anaheim, California in late June. APAC is the largest regional group of the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and meets annually to administer the MLA and peer review system under IAF as well as

On July 20, 2023 IOAS suspended CCPB’s Textile Exchange accreditation for Bangladesh and India. CCPB has been invited to take corrective actions to enable the suspensions to be lifted. While the suspensions are in effect, they are not permitted to accept new applications, no certificates may be issued to new

The USDA National Organic Program (NOP) has expanded functionality for the USDA Organic INTEGRITY Database (INTEGRITY) by launching a new Trade Partner Module. This new module is an expansion of INTEGRITY called the Global Organic INTEGRITY Database (GLOBAL). GLOBAL increases access and transparency to quality data in organic supply chains

Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) lifts the suspension of COR accreditation for CU Inspections & Certifications India as of July 20, 2023. Please see CU Inspections & Certifications India Pvt. Ltd.’s accreditation page on the IOAS website for details of all their accreditation in full. CU Inspections & Certifications India

On 11th July 2023, the European Parliament voted in favor of rejecting the EU COMM proposal on detailed production rules of organic sea salt and other salts for food and feed. For EU-member states, in the absence of harmonized detailed organic production rules for salt, Article 21(2) of Regulation (EU)

The IOAS Annual Report July 2023 has been published and is now available