Regulation of organic foods in Australia and New Zealand - Incorporating management of an organic standard
A concept paper put forward by Biological Farmers of Australia

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This concept paper aims to follow on from the Discussion Paper “An Organic Standard for Australia, Industry at the Crossroads – Are we Asleep at the Wheel” put out by Biological Farmers of Australia (BFA) in July 2006.

AQIS has for some time now indicated that it intends to discontinue both its National Organic Standard secretariat role, and its Competent Authority role, perhaps as early as next year. This is due to changes with the European Union (EU), where they have indicated that they will allow direct accreditation of certification organizations, similar to the US and Japan.

The Biological Farmers of Australia (BFA) board is of the strong opinion that the organic sector in Australia needs to move quickly to ensure a continuity of arrangements, so that exports of organic produce are not compromised into the future. At the same time there is an opportunity to address the failure of both Australian and New Zealand governments, to properly regulate the words organic and biodynamic. Firstly, the BFA board is of the opinion that the organic sector should form a view on whether AQIS should discontinue its Competent Authority role. Having said that, if AQIS does withdraw its role, then there appears to be only two options available. One
option is to form an independent organic sector body to take over the role of Competent Authority . This would require agreement from the EU and could be for example, the Organic Certifiers of Australia (OCA)1. The other option is for the organic sector to outsource this role to a group like the Joint Australia New Zealand Accreditation Service (JAS-ANZ).

Secondly, in relation to the organic standard, both OCA and BFA representatives met with Standards Australia in early August to discuss the Organic Federation of Australia (OFA) application for an organic standard to be developed by Standards Australia. This meeting confirmed that Standards Australia would not allow mandatory inspection or certification to remain in the standard. The BFA board does not support the development of an organic standard without mandatory certification and inspection, and urges Standards Australia to cease any further work on its development. It is evident to the BFA that the organic sector majority view is consistent with the BFA view rather than the OFA view.

To further address the regulation of the words organic and biodynamic, the BFA board has developed a concept proposal that delivers full regulation within Australia and New Zealand, via an organic labeling rule in the Food Standards Code with Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ). This will be no easy task given that
Government prefers minimum regulation. It will take coordinated and persistent lobbying by the organic sector on both sides of the Tasman. However the BFA board strongly believes it is well worth the effort. Full regulation will give us an enormous boost in consumer confidence to grow our sector significantly faster than now.

Until such time as FSANZ agrees to regulate the words organic and biodynamic, the BFA board believes that the organic sector in Australia should take over ownership and management of the organic standard, possibly through the Organic Certifiers of Australia. In addition, the BFA board urges the organic sector to move quickly to address the impending withdrawal of AQIS from its role as Competent Authority .

The BFA believes it is time for all organizations in Australia to put competitive differences aside, and come together to seek collective solutions to these issues. The BFA proposes that the organic sector progress the resolution of these issues through organic sector round tables over the next twelve months.

1 The Organic Certifiers of Australia comprise four organic sector organisations who offer certification services to
more than 2000 clients out of a total of approximately 3000 operators covered in

Click HERE for the full paper
http://www.bfa.com.au/_files/Regulation%20of%20Organic%20Foods%20in%20Australia%20and%20NZ.pdf