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Initial meeting on equivalence between the Philippines and Indonesia
Notwithstanding postponements and the possibility that Philippine delegates were not going to get their travel papers signed in time, the initial meeting on equivalence of their respective organic systems between Philippines and Indonesia held last July reportedly went well and met all key objectives.
The meeting was first mooted at the Global Organic Market Access (GOMA) Project meeting in Shanghai, in May 2010. Indonesian and Philippine delegates then agreed to conduct an equivalence determination exercise of their respective standards according to the EquiTool. The GOMA project is a joint collaboration between FAO, UNCTAD and IFOAM, established to promote and support the use of equivalence tools developed by the International Task Force for Harmonisation and Equivalence in Organic Agriculture (ITF). The ITF process, which took place between 2003 and 2009, also led by FAO, UNCTAD and IFOAM, produced two tools, i.e. the EquiTool, a guide for assessing equivalence of organic standards and technical regulations, and the international requirements for organic certification bodies (IROCB).
By the time delegates met on 28 and 29 July 2011, in Bogor, Indonesia, the equivalence exercise had expanded to include their respective conformity systems with the objective of reaching a full mutual equivalence agreement between the two countries. This is the first such initiative in the Asia region. It will pave the way for other members of the Asia Working Group, including India and China, who are involved in the regional multilateral equivalence initiative currently under discussion, facilitated by GOMA. It augurs well that the Director General of the Directorate of Quality and Standardization, Ministry of Agriculture, the lead agency for the competent authority of organic agriculture in Indonesia, addressed the meeting. In his speech he stressed that Indonesia’s interest to progress in the harmonisation and equivalence initiative is not just for Indonesia, but also for the development interest of the organic sector in the whole region.
Known as the rain city of Indonesia, it did rain hard during the meeting in Bogor, but that did not wash out delegates’ effort to meet all key objectives. The Philippine delegation, led by the Bureau of Agriculture Food Product Standards (BAFPS), got on well with the host Indonesian delegation, led by the Directorate of Quality and Standardization. It helped that some delegates were familiar with each other from previous engagements in ASEAN GAP (good agriculture practice) and other government work missions.
The meeting, assisted by a GOMA steering committee member and consultant from the region, reviewed ITF/GOMA documents, particularly the EquiTool, the Common Objectives and Requirements for Organic Standards (COROS), and IROCB. Also taking into consideration the Canada-USA equivalency process, the meeting managed consensus on a set of choices regarding: scope of equivalence; equivalence assessment process; choice of equivalence tools; supervision of certification; and elements and mechanisms to implement the agreement, including an action plan with deadlines and a confidentiality agreement.
Scope of agreement:
Parties agreed to start with the product scope of crop production, wild collection (including wild harvest honey), processing and farm inputs. Other sectors, such as aquaculture and animal husbandry, that are only just emerging in both countries, were not included as trade in the products is not expected in the near future. Grower group certification will be included. A decision on whether the equivalence agreement is only limited to products certified within the respective countries or if it will also cover products certified by approved certification bodies (CB) outside their respective countries was reserved for further discussion. Likewise, a decision on to what extent the equivalence agreement will or will not include products recognised by one party vis-à-vis other equivalency agreements with other parties was postponed.
Equivalence assessment process:
Parties agreed on the adoption of the EquiTool process for the equivalence assessment of both standards and certification requirements as follows:
a) Self assessment by respective parties.
b) Review of self assessments and initial feedback by respective parties.
c) Response to initial Assessment Review by respective parties on a need basis.
d) Resolution of equivalence issues between parties.
Choice of equivalence tools:
Parties agreed to use the COROS, including the Criteria for Variations as provided by the EquiTool, as the basis of their equivalence assessment of each other’s standards. In consideration of the development of the Asian Regional Organic Standard (AROS), parties also decided to include assessment of their respective standards against the AROS as an additional exercise. This was in light of the initiative and likelihood of the AROS being adopted as the ASEAN standard for organic agriculture.
Parties agreed to use the IROCB as the basis of their equivalence assessment of each other’s certification requirements. However, as the delegates were not all fully familiar with the IROCB, parties also agreed to include a side-by-side assessment of their respective certification requirements to support the decision.
Review of supervision of certification; monitoring and enforcement activities:
Parties will exchange sets of documents relevant to the implementation and enforcement of their respective organic labelling regulations. Based on their respective document reviews, parties will discuss the need for on-site evaluations of supervision and enforcement activities before making an agreement and arrangements accordingly.
Elements and mechanisms to maintain agreement:
An initial discussion identified key elements, and suggestions to address them were developed for further discussion:
- On-going maintenance and updating of list of approved CB.
- Information exchange regarding changes and modifications to implementation, e.g. revision of standards, certification or supervision rules.
- Verification of effective supervision.
- Handling of complaints.
Action Plan
An exchange of Letters of Intent between the respective competent authorities is expected before the two parties proceed further. Delegates agreed to target completion of the process before the GOMA conference scheduled in conjunction with BioFach in February 2012.
Ong Kung Wai
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