CCOF Certification Program Manual- DISINTEGRATED

More documents

Recommendations

Info

mediation process must be in compliance with organicregulations and standards.The USDA Secretary may review any mediated agreement forcompliance to the NOP and may reject any agreement orprovision not in compliance with the NOP.APPEALSAppeals (all programs)An operation may appeal a Notice of Denial of Certification,Notice of Proposed Suspension or Notice of ProposedRevocation. Notices of Noncompliance, Suspension,Revocation or other decisions made by CCOF CS may not beformally appealed.A decision to deny, suspend, or revoke certification willbecome final unless the decision is appealed in a timelymanner. An appeal must be filed within the time periodprovided in the notice or within 30 days from receipt of thenotice, whichever occurs later. The appeal will be considered“filed” on the date received by the appeal body (USDAAdministrator or CCOF CS, as applicable). All appeals mustinclude a copy of the adverse decision and a statement ofthe appellant’s reasons for believing that the decision wasnot proper or made in accordance with applicable programregulations, policies, or procedures.All written communications between parties involved inappeal proceedings must be sent to the recipient's place ofbusiness by a delivery service that provides dated returnreceipts. All appeals shall be reviewed, heard, and decidedby persons not involved with the decision being appealed.Appeals under the USDA Are handled differently than thoseunder other CCOF CS programs.Appeals (under USDA NOP)Appeals regarding certification to the USDA NOP will behandled in a manner consistent with the appeals process ofthe USDA NOP, which is briefly described here. A fulldescription of the appeals process can be found in the NOPregulations at 7 C.F.R. § 205.681. Where an appeal occurs ina state with a State Organic Program (SOP), that state’sappeal procedures will apply.If the USDA Administrator sustains an operation’s appeal, theoperation will be issued new or ongoing organic certification,as applicable. The act of sustaining the appeal shall not be anadverse action subject to appeal by the affected CCOF CS. Ifthe USDA Administrator denies an appeal, a formaladministrative proceeding will be initiated to deny, suspend,or revoke the certification. Such proceeding shall beconducted pursuant to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’sUniform Rules of Practice or the State Organic Program’srules of procedure.Appeals (Under other CCOF CS Certification Programs)An operation enrolled in the CCOF CS certification programfor certification to a standard other than the NOP (such asTransitional, COR, ISP, etc) may appeal a denial, proposedrevocation or suspension as described above, but the appealwill be adjudicated by the CCOF CS Ad Hoc AppealsCommittee. The CCOF CS Ad Hoc Appeals Committee shallrender a final and non-appealable decision to sustain, deny,suspend or revoke certification. Alternatively, they maysustain or deny an appeal regarding an adverse action.An operation submitting an appeal to the CCOF CS Ad HocAppeals Committee should include in their appeal, inaddition to the information described above, any relevantbackground information on the case, reasons to changeCCOF CS’s decision, and a suggested resolution to the issue.Appellants are strongly encouraged to submit completeinformation when making an appeal. Submission of newinformation after the initial appeal may delay scheduling ofthe adjudication meeting. In order to prevent spuriousappeals and to help offset the cost of adjudicationproceedings, the appellant must submit a fee with theappeal as described in Section Three.SECTION FIVE: CERTIFICATIONCATEGORIESAs described in Section One above, CCOF CS offers organiccertification to crop and livestock producers, wild cropharvesters, processor/handlers, retailers, restaurants, andtextile and personal care product manufacturers under anumber of national and private standards. A single operationmay be certified under more than one scope of certificationand to multiple standards. This section of the manualdescribes the additional categories of certification to thosedescribed in Section One.CERTIFICATION FOR EXEMPT OR EXCLUDEDOPERATIONSPrivate label marketers, retail establishments and specifichandlers, such as operations producing products with lessthan 70% organic ingredients, may be exempt or excludedfrom certification but may seek voluntary certification withCCOF CS. NOP regulations section 205.101 describes whichoperations are exempt from NOP certification. To becomecertified by CCOF CS, an exempt or excluded operation mustCCOF Certification Services Program Manual Page 22 of 27
comply with the regulations set forth in the applicablestandards.RETAIL CERTIFICATIONRetail operations with locations in countries outside the USwithout clearly applicable national standards for organicretail may be certified by the CCOF Retail Program. Pleasesee the CCOF Retail Program Manual for more informationabout the requirements. Retail operations may be certifiedto the USDA NOP. See Section Three for details about Retailcertification fees.TRANSITIONAL CERTIFICATIONOperations may be certified to the CCOF CS Transitionalstandard if the operation meets all requirements of the (NOP7CFRPart 205), except §205.202(b), which requires threeyears of no prohibited materials. A parcel may be CertifiedTransitional if it is free of prohibited materials for one year.“Transitional” certified is outside the scope of the USDANOP. Transitional products may not be labeled, sold, orrepresented using the word “organic.”CONTRACTED PRODUCTION WITH NON-CERTIFIEDFACILITIESIf an operation certified by CCOF CS contracts with a facilitythat is not independently certified (Non-Certified Facility) toprocess organic products, this non-certified facility can bepart of the certification of the CCOF CS client, so long thatCCOF CS client is responsible for the non-certified facility’spractices as follows:The non-certified facility shall not take title of the productand is precluded from marketing certified products. The rawmaterials supply and the sales must be under the control ofthe CCOF CS client.• The non-certified facility is responsible for adheringto the practices described the client's OSP and forcompliance with any conditions for certificationarising from an inspection, for maintaining organicintegrity, and for notifying the client of any changesto the OSP prior to implementing changes.• The CCOF CS client is responsible for notifying CCOFCS of all changes to the OSP and for complianceissues involving the non-certified facility.• The non-certified facility will be inspected annuallyeither during the client’s inspection or at anothertime to verify compliance with applicableregulations. The cost of this inspection is theresponsibility of the client.• The non-certified facility is subject to the sameunannounced inspection and product samplingpolicies as the client.• If the non-certified facility offers services to morethan one client, then CCOF CS reserves the right torequest that the non-certified facility becomecertified by CCOF CS or another accreditedcertification agency.PRIVATE LABELSThe CCOF name and seal may be used on private labels ofnon-CCOF certified entities provided that the product wasproduced by a CCOF client in accordance with its OSP. CCOFapproval of the private label does not constitute certificationof the private label marketer. The use of the name and seal isvalid until terminated in writing by the client or CCOF.Clients must notify CCOF CS in advance of packing anyprivate label product. The client must submit an updated totheir OSP listing all private label information and the label orpackage for the marketer entity requesting use of the CCOFname or seal. The client must evidence control over use ofthe label, USDA Seal, other national seals, and CCOF nameand/or seal. The CCOF CS client must provide completeinformation about the private label marketer entity. CCOF CSwill notify the marketer of their responsibilities underapplicable organic standards and CCOF’s ongoing rights to itsname and seal through a Name and Seal Use Notification.The private label marketer entity is authorized to use theCCOF name or seal only on products included in the Nameand Seal Use Notification.The client is responsible for fees including but not limited tofees described in Section Three. CCOF CS will invoice theclient for the private label fee, pro-rated to cover the perioduntil the client's annual renewal. The private label fee willthen be included annually as part of the invoice for thecertification fee at subsequent renewals.The private label marketer entity must comply with allapplicable organic standards, and CCOF standards andpolicies. If the private label marketer entity is determined tobe noncompliant, the client may be subject to adverseactions, pursuant to Section Four. Please contact CCOF CS formore information.CCOF Certification Services Program Manual Page 23 of 27
Page 5 and 6: SECTION TWO: THE CERTIFICATION PROC
Page 7 and 8: • The inspector reviews the opera
Page 9 and 10: fee for each Notice of Noncomplianc
Page 11 and 12: If an operation wants to add new ac
Page 13 and 14: FEES THAT APPLY TO ALL CLIENTSAppli
Page 15 and 16: “organic” may be exempt from fe
Page 17 and 18: described in Section Two for an add
Page 19 and 20: depends on the consumers’ confide
Page 21: E) The right to file an appeal.Susp
Page 25 and 26: certification agency. All costs ass
Page 27: presented to the public or buyers o

CCOF Certification Program Manual- DISINTEGRATED

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?