Philippines and Indonesia use EquiTools for Equivalence

Initial meeting on equivalence between the Philippines and Indonesia on equivalence of their respective organic systems held in 28-29th July in Bogor, Indonesia. 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, which serves as  a guide for assessing equivalence of organic standards and technical regulations developed by ITF project, the prodecessor of the GOMA project .

The equivalence exercise between the Philippines and Indonesia had expanded to include their respective conformity systems with the objective of reaching a full mutual equivalence agreement  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.

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.

Source: Adapted from The Organic Standards(Grolink AB), September 2011