Canada Organic Office Website

The Canada Organic Office (COO) of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) recently updated its Organic Products Regulations website http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/fssa/orgbio/orgbioe.shtml, featuring essential information on the upcoming regulations and enforcement policy, including:

• An official list of Conformity Verification Bodies ('accreditors') which have applied to the agency to carry out the assessments of Certifiers under the new program;
• A draft Stream of Commerce and Enforcement Policy, which describes how the CFIA will enforce products over the initial 24 months following implementation.

The deadline for comments on the federal organic regulation is April 29, 2009. Address your comments (pro and con) to the Canadian Organic Office at OPR.RPB@inspection.gc.ca

The website also includes valuable resources, such as a copy of the government's cost benefit analysis for regulating the organic sector, questions and answers on the 2009 organic regulations, links to the regulations, standards and Canadian statistics.