GOMA Asia Working Group Decides to Aim for Multilateral Agreement

At the GOMA-Asia Working Group meeting in Seoul on 26-27 September, 33 members from 15 countries in East, South-East and South Asia decided to lay groundwork for a multilateral recognition and cooperation agreement on regional organic trade and labeling.  The participants were inspired by a visit from UNCTAD’s Secretary-General, Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi , who expressed that organic agriculture is a “must” for a sustainable future, and also expressed his support for the work of GOMA to make organic products tradable.

Multilateral Agreement:  The multi-lateral agreement will be based on confidence-building technical work using the EquiTool, in particular the Annex on Common Objectives and Requirements of Organic Standards (COROS) as a basis for assessing equivalence of standards, and the International Requirements for Organic Certification Bodies (IROCB) as the basis for assessing equivalence of certification performance requirements. Assisted by GOMA, each country will prepare a self-assessment of its standard and where applicable, its certification performance requirements. A task force of the regulating governments (China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand) will also develop guidelines for peer review of government oversight of the verification process under the organic regulations. It is anticipated that willing countries will initially sign a letter of intent to work towards regional recognition.  The recognition decision will require a process at the Minister levels of the governments and will often involve multi-agency review.  Therefore each country should identify this process.  It was estimated that this process would take two to three years.  This extends well beyond the current GOMA project timeframe.  Therefore, the Working Group issued a declaration stating the importance of its work and progress so far, and urging potential donors to consider supporting a continuation of the GOMA project.

Harmonized Regional Standard:  The Working Group advanced the draft Asia Regional Organic Standards (AROS) development by reconciling the requirements on key issues.  The standard will require soil-based production for terrestrial crops, effectively prohibiting classical hydroponic production even if done with permitted inputs. Use of human waste in crops, although permitted, is subject to further process requirements such as composting and fermentation.  Two issues regarding conversion were debated and resolved. Traditional agriculture may be taken into consideration as long as there is a reliable means of verification.  The minimum conversion time was established as 12 months for annuals and 18 months for perennials.  The Steering Committee will begin steps to communicate with the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) about its adopting AROS as a harmonized ASEAN standard.  The Working Group will also explore what potential exists within the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) for a similar approach.

The next meeting of the GOMA-Asia Working Group is scheduled for 12 February 2012 in Nuremberg, prior to the GOMA Conference.

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