WHEREAS, Section 15 of Republic Act No. 10068 or the Organic Agriculture Act of 2010 designates and authorizes the Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Product Standards (BAFPS) to grant official accreditation to organic certifying body or entity;

WHEREAS, Section 15 of RA 10068 further mandates BAFPS to formulate the necessary rules and procedures for such accreditation;

WHEREAS, excerpt from the minutes of the 8th meeting of  the National  Organic Agriculture Board (NOAB) that DA AO 13, series of 2003 or the Guidelines in the Accreditation of Certifying Bodies for Standards on Organic Agriculture shall be recognized as governing rules for the same purpose under Organic Agriculture Act of 2010 and shall be amended to include additional provisions;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, HON. PROCESO J. ALCALA, do hereby order these amendments from DA AO No. 13, series of 2003 that will read as follows:

3. Criteria for Accreditation

3.3 Track Record

3.3.1 must have been engaged in organic agriculture production or related extension services for at least three (3) years

3.3.6  must be able to conduct inspection in accordance with the approved Operating Manual of Certification Procedures. The Manual shall ensure the following:

a. Compliance of its certified operations with the existing standards and record keeping requirements

b. Adherence to procedures in evaluating applicants, making certification decisions, issuing certification certificates, and maintaining the confidentiality of any business information submitted by the certified operation

c. Conduct of necessary procedures to monitor the certified operations

d. No conflict of interest. All persons involved in the certification procedure have declared existing or potential conflicts of interest.

e. Making information available to the public about the certified operations.

3.4 must have at leasst one satellite office or processing unit each in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao in case of only one accredited certifying body in the country

3.5 must not be providing consultancy services to certification applicants to overcome identified barriers to certification

4. Procedure for Accreditation

4.1 Application for Accreditation:

In addition to the requirements enumerated under Section 3 of AO 13, series of 2003, the applicant-institution shall submit the following to the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture through the Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Product Standards, to wit:

a. Written application for accreditation identifying each area of operation to engage in, for which accreditation is requested (e.g. crops, livestock, wild crops, inputs, etc.)

b. Updated institution ™s organizational profile,

c. Certificate of Registration from the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) or other relevant regulatory agencies,

d. Latest audited financial statements,

e. ISO 65 (General Requirements for Bodies Operating Product Certification Systems) compliant

f. Personnel Information (applicant shall demonstrate sufficient number of adequately trained personnel and provide evidence of their expertise to successfully perform the duties assigned). Contact details (telephone number, mobile number, and/or email address) shall be included.

g. Evidence that applicant ™s personnel have sufficient expertise in organic production or handling techniques to successfully perform the duties assigned.

h. List of certified operations if the applicant is currently doing certification work.

4.2 Conduct of Evaluation and Verification:

The National Accreditation Committee shall conduct evaluation, inspection and interviews to validate the applicant-institution ™s submitted documents when deemed necessary:

The National Accreditation Committee shall be chaired by BAFPS and members shall be drawn from the following agencies:

a. Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), Department of Agriculture (DA)
b. Bureau of Plant Industry (BAI), DA
c. Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), DA
d. Food and Drugs Administration (FDA), Department of Health (DOH)
e. Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau (ERDB), Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)
f. Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD), Dept. of Science and Technology (DOST)
g. Non-government organizations (NGO/people ™s Organization (PO)
h. Consumer group
i. Academe/research institutions
j. Organic producer/processor

4.3 Granting of Accreditation:

A certificate of accreditation shall be issued to the institution that satisfies the criteria enumerated in paragraph 3 of these guidelines within thirty (30) calendar days from the date of the submission of the completed documents. The certificate shall state the area(s) for which accreditation is given and the validity of the certificate.

The certifying agent shall also sign a Statement of Agreement which affirms that provisions of this regulation will be carried out. Furthermore, the accredited CB will affirm that an annual performance evaluation of all persons involved in the certification will be conducted and that necessary measures to correct deficiencies in the certification service will be undertaken.

In the event that the applicant failed to meet the requirements for accreditation, a notice of non-compliance will be issued describing each of the non-compliances and the given time to undertake the corrective measures. Processing of the application will be continued and accreditation will be granted if the applicant provides sufficient evidences to demonstrate the actions done for the non-compliances within the specified period. However, if the applicant failed to further comply, notice of accredtitation denial shall be
issued.

All other provisions of AO 13, series of 2003 except for the aforementioned provisions shall remain.

This Order shall take effect immediately.


Adopted: 22 March 2011


(SGD.) PROCESO J. ALCALA
Secretary

---

^[1] The guidelines only applies to local certifying bodies; a separate guideline shall be formulated for international/CBs operating in the country.