Administrative Measures on Certification of Organic Products
Administrative Measures on Certification of Organic Products
Administrative Measures on Certification of Organic Products
Order of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine No. 155
November 15, 2013
The Administrative Measures on Certification of Organic Products has been examined and passed at the Administration's work meeting of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine on April 23, 2013 and is hereby made public. The Measures is to go into effect on April 1, 2014.
Administrative Measures on Certification of Organic Products
Chapter I General provisions
Article 1 The Measures is formulated in accordance with the provisions of the Product Quality Law of the Peoples' Republic of China ("PRC"), the Law on the Inspection on Imported and Exported Commodity of the PRC, the Certification and Accreditation Regulations of the PRC and other laws and administrative regulations for the purpose of safeguarding the lawful rights and interests of consumers, producers and sellers, further enhancing the quality of organic products, intensifying the administration of the certification of organic products and promoting ecologic environment protection and sustainable development.
Article 2 The Measures shall apply to organic product certification and the production, processing, importing and selling of organic products awarded the certificate in the PRC.
Article 3 The organic products referred to in the Measures mean products produced, processed and/or sold for human beings' consumption and/or to be used as animal food in compliance with China's state criteria on organic products.
The organic product certification referred to in the Measures mean a Certification Institute's, in accordance with the provisions of the Measures and in line with the organic product certification rules, assessing the production, processing and/or selling of relevant products as meeting China's state criteria on organic products.
Article 4 The Certification and Accreditation Administration of the PRC (the "CAA") shall be responsible for the unified administration, supervision and comprehensive coordination in respect of the organic product certification in the state.
The local quality and technical supervision authorities of various levels and the exit and entry inspection and quarantine institutes of various places (collectively "Local Certification Regulatory Authority") shall, according to the division of their duties and in accordance with the law, be responsible for the supervision and inspection and the administrative law-enforcement in respect of the organic product certification in their respective jurisdiction.
Article 5 The state will apply a unified organic product certification system, unified certification contents, unified criteria and certification implementation rules, and a unified certification symbol.
The CAA shall be responsible for the formulation and adjustment of organic product certification contents and certification implementation rules and making the same public.
Article 6 The CAA shall organize international cooperation on organic product certification based on the principle of equality and mutual benefit.
The international mutual accreditation on organic product certification shall be conducted in accordance with the international cooperation agreements signed between the state and foreign or international entities.
Chapter II Certification implementation
Article 7 An organic product certification institute ("Certification Institute") shall engage in organic product certification only after it is approved by the CAA and obtains the legal person status in accordance with the law.
A Certification Institute's capability to conduct certification shall comply with the requirements of the state's criteria on a Certification Institute.
An inspector engaging in the inspection of organic product certification shall engage in the same only after he has been registered by the state's institute on the registration of certification personnel.
Article 8 A organic product producer or processor (collectively "Certification Entruster") may, out of his own will, entrust a Certification Institute to conduct organic product certification and submit the application materials as required in the Organic Product Certification Implementation Rules.
A Certification Institute shall not accept the certification entrustment from a Certification Entruster whose products are produced from a place whose environment is not in compliance with the state's requirements on the environment of an organic product's place of origin, or whose products are not included in the organic product certification contents.
Article 9 A Certification Institute shall, within 10 days after the receipt of the application materials submitted by a Certification Entruster, complete the examination of the materials and make the decision on whether to accept the application. Where an application is not accepted, the Certification Institute shall notify the Certification Entruster in writing, stating the reason.
A Certification Institute shall, within 5 days before conducting on-site inspection on a Certification Entruster, report the name of the Certification Entruster, certification inspection scheme and other basic information to the information system determined by the CAA.
Article 10 After accepting a certification entrustment, a Certification Institute shall, in accordance with the provisions of the Organic Product Certification Implementation Rules, dispatch (a) certification inspector(s) to conduct on-site inspection on the venues for producing and/or processing organic products, and entrust a legally qualified inspection and testing institute to conduct inspection and testing on the applied-for-certification products.
In accordance with the provisions of the Organic Product Certification Implementation Rules, where monitoring (or inspection) is required to be conducted on the environment of the place of origin (or base), a monitoring (or inspection) report from a legally qualified monitoring (or inspection) institute shall be required, or other lawful and valid environment monitoring (or inspection) conclusion provided by the Certification Entruster is accredited.
Article 11 Where a product is in compliance with the requirements of organic product certification, a Certification Institute shall issue in time the organic product certification certificate to the Certification Entruster, who shall be allowed to use the China Organic Product certification symbol; where a product is not in compliance, the Certification Institute shall notify the Certification Entruster in writing, stating the reason.
The Certification Institutes and certification personnel shall be responsible for their certification conclusions.
Article 12 A Certification Institute shall ensure that the certification process is complete, objective and true, make complete record on its certification process and archive it to ensure the traceability of the certification process and result.
The product inspection and testing and environment monitoring (or inspection) institutes shall ensure the truthfulness and accuracy of their inspection and testing or monitoring reports, and make complete record on their inspection and testing or monitoring process and archive it. The product inspection and testing and environment monitoring institutes and their relevant personnel shall be responsible for the content and conclusions of their inspection and testing or monitoring reports.
The term of storage of the record prescribed in this Article shall be 5 years.
Article 13 A Certification Institute shall, in accordance with the provisions of the Certification Implementation Rules, conduct effective follow-up examination on products awarded the certificate and their production and processing processes to ensure the continuous compliance of the certification conclusion with the certification requirements.
Article 14 A Certification Institute shall issue in time the organic product sale certificate to a Certification Entruster to ensure the organic products sold by the Certification Entruster of the products awarded the certificate are consistent with those indicated on the certification certificate in respect of types, scope and amount.
Article 15 With regard to processed products whose organic ingredient content (meaning weight or liquid volume, not including water and salt. The same below.) amounts to or is higher than 95%, only after they are certified organic products are they allowed to be marked "You Ji in Chinese characters" (meaning organic) on the products, or product packages and labels, and affixed with organic product certification symbols.
Article 16 A Certification Institute shall not certify a processed product whose organic ingredient content is lower than 95% as organic.
Chapter III Export of organic products
Article 17 The competent organic product authority of a country or area that export organic products to China may apply to the CAA for assessment for equal-effect recognition of its country's organic product certification system. The CAA accepts its application and organizes relevant experts to assess its application.
The assessment may be conducted in the form of document examination, on-site inspection, etc.
Article 18 Where the organic product certification system of a country or area that export organic products to China has equal effect with China's organic product certification system, the CAA may sign relevant memorandum with its competent authority.
With regard to the organic products exported from the above country or area to China, administration shall be applied in accordance with the provisions of the relevant memorandum.
Article 19 With regard to products imported from a country or area that has not signed relevant memorandums with the CAA in respect of the equal effect of its organic product certification system, where they are intended to be exported to China as organic products, they shall comply with the requirements of China's laws and regulations in relation to organic products and China's state criteria on organic products.
Article 20 The producers, sellers, importers or agents of imported products which need to be certified as organic products in China (collectively "Imported Organic Products Certification Entruster") shall entrust the certification with a Certification Institute approved by the CAA.
Article 21 An Imported Organic Products Certification Entruster shall, in accordance with the provisions of the Organic Product Certification Implementation Rules, submit relevant application materials and documents to a Certification Institute.
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