Canada Organic Office - Operating Manual

Part G - Interpretation of Organic Standards

Table of Contents

• G.1 Standards Interpretation Committee
• G.2 Requests for Interpretations
• G.3 Responses from the Standards Interpretation Committee

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G.1 Standards Interpretation Committee

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency, in partnership with the Organic Federation of Canada, has developed the Organic Standards Interpretation Committee (SIC). The mandate of the Committee is to provide, to the Canada Organic Office, interpretive guidance on issues related to the National Standards for Organic Agriculture (CAN/CGSB 32.310 and CAN/CGSB 32.311).

G.2 Requests for Interpretations

G.2.1 Requests for interpretations can be submitted to the committee by anyone (e.g. operator, CB, CVB ).

G.2.2 Requests shall be sent by email to the Canada Organic Office or by contacting the Regulatory Standards Officer at 613-773-6221.

G.2.3 Requests shall clearly outline the issue that needs a technical interpretation and the relevant section of the standards.

G.2.4 Business issues (e.g. certificates or payment of fees) shall not be included as that is not within the scope of this committee.

G.3 Responses from the Standards Interpretation Committee

G.3.1 The length of time required for it to respond to a request for interpretation depends on the scope and complexity of the question and the workload of the SIC. The committee meets on a monthly basis and aims to respond to interpretive questions within a month.

G.3.2 Draft responses will be posted on the COO web page and are subject to a 60 day comment period.

G.3.3 Following the close of the comment period, the SIC will analyse comments and finalize the response.

G.3.4 The Standards and Regulatory Officer shall send the final response directly to the person or body who submits the interpretation request. The response will also be posted as final, in the form of a Question and Answer, on the COO website.

G.3.5 The COO will also issue notification to all CBs, via the CVBs.

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