WORLD TRADE G/TBT/Notif.98.11
15January 1998
ORGANIZATION
(98-0128)
Committee onTechnical Barriers toTrade
NOTIFICATION
Thefollowing notification isbeing circulated inaccordance withArticle 10.6.
1. Member toAgreement notifying: UNITED STATES
Ifapplicable, name oflocalgovernment involved (Articles 3.2and7.2):
2. Agency responsible: Department ofAgriculture (25)
Agency orauthority designated tohandle comments regarding thenotification canbe
indicated ifdifferent from above:
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [X],2.10.1 [],5.6.2 [],5.7.1 [],other:
4. Products covered (HSorCCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading.
ICSnumbers maybeprovided inaddition, where applicable): Organic foods
5. Title, number ofpages andlanguage(s) ofthenotified document: National Organic
Programme (118pages, English)
6. Description ofcontent: TheAdministration isseeking comments onaproposal to
establish aNational Organic Programme. Theprogramme isproposed under the
Organic Foods Production Actof1990 asamended, which requires theestablishment of
national standards governing themarketing ofcertain agricultural products asorganically
produced tofacilitate commerce infresh andprocessed foodthatisorganically produced
andtoassure consumers thatsuchproducts meet consistent standards. Thisprogramme
would establish national standards fortheorganic production andhandling ofagricultural
products, which would include anational listofsynthetic substances approved forusein
theproduction andhandling oforganically produced products. Italsowould establish an
accreditation programme forState officials andprivate persons who want tobe
accredited tocertify farm, wildcropharvesting, andhandling operations thatcomply
withtheprogramme ’srequirements, andacertification programme forfarm, wildcrop
harvesting, andhandling operations thatwanttobecertified asmeeting theprogramme ’s
requirements. Theprogramme additionally would include labelling requirements for
organic products andproducts containing organic ingredients, andenforcement
provisions. Further, theproposed ruleprovides fortheapproval ofState organic
programmes andtheimportation intotheUnited States oforganic agricultural products
from foreign programmes determined tohaveequivalent requirements.
7. Objective andrationale, including thenature ofurgent problems where applicable: To
provide consumers withconsistency governing fresh andorganically produced foods.
./.G/TBT/Notif.98.11
Page2
8. Relevant documents: 62FR65850, 16December 1997; 7CFR Part205. Willappear
intheFederal Register when adopted.
9. Proposed dateofadoption:
Proposed dateofentry intoforce:Tobedetermined
10. Final dateforcomments: 16March 1998
11. Texts available from: National enquiry point [X]oraddress, e-mail andtelefax number
ofother body: