The Organic Industry Standards and Certification Council has proposed amendments to the organic certification process that could see achieving the coveted stamp of approval become easier than ever before.
Anyone who’s ever tried to become certified organic knows the endlessly frustrating and exhausting process the stamp of approval entails.
At present, manufacturers in pursuit of the coveted organic certification label on their product stand to endure a minimum of three years of paperwork and procedures, including a year of ‘pre certification’ and two years of ‘in conversion’ to achieve full certification.
But now, a new proposal by the Organic Industry Standards and Certification Council recommends acknowledging prior organic practices in order to reduce the currently lengthy amount of time it takes some producers to achieve organic certification.
It’s an arduous process that’s seen many beauty product creators bogged down in red tape and wait times, but under the new proposal by the Organic Industry Standards and Certification Council, which sets the National Standard for Organic and Bio-dynamic Produce in Australia, producers could be fully certified after just one year of inspections – providing they can verify that the property has been under organic management for the previous three years.
Australia’s largest and most recognised organic certification body Australian Certified Organic has been lobbying for the change for quite some time now. Its Chief Certification Officer Michael Baker says the change would bring Australia’s organic standards in line with international standards.
“This is an exciting development and is especially good news for certified organic producers who want to add additional land to their operations,” says Baker.
“It’s a change Australian Certified Organic has requested for some time. It would make Australian organic producers more competitive on the international market and give producers converting to organic a market to sell ‘in conversion’ produce.
The Australian Certified Organic Standard would follow suit if the changes were made at a national level. Baker says it’s important that this change is not seen to give producers short cuts to organic certification.
“They still need to manage the property according to the Australian Certified Organic Standard and they would need to prove that they’ve been operating the farm organically for three years. Under organic certification initial soil tests are taken on farms and they’re audited each year to make sure the property and its management complies with the Australian Certified Organic Standard.”
Have your say: Do you think the proposed changes would be a positive step for the beauty industry?