REGIONAL PROJECTS

ASIA (East, South-East and South Asia)

GOMA Asia Working Group meeting in South Korea,  26-27 September  2011

Aiming to create a framework for cooperation on organic labeling and trade, the GOMA-Asia Working Group held its second meeting in Seoul, Korea. Participants from governments and civil society at this meeting numbered 33, and came from 15 countries in East, South-east and South Asia
Opening Session
After a welcome from the Steering Committee and introductions, the GOMA Project Manager reported on the general progress in the GOMA project since December, 2010, the time of the previous Working Group meeting in Seoul. The progress in the GOMA Asia initiative was reported in the context of the mapping for the framework, which was initially presented at the Mumbai meeting. Progress included the initiation of the Asia Regional Standards development and a second draft now in consultation after two meetings of the Drafting Group in March and June 2011.    Progress on equivalence was also noted as a result of initiation of the pilot assessments between Philippine and Indonesian governments. Regarding supervision of certification, it was noted that a draft Terms of Reference from the Task Force is on the agenda of this meeting.

Meeting Agenda

Meeting report

Final Draft of AROS

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GOMA Asia Working Group meeting on 9-10th December 2010

Here are the crucial documents we request you to read before the Working Group in Mumbai starts:

Meeting Agenda (updated on 29th Nov.2010)

Terms of Reference: Working group for cooperation on organic labeling and trade for Asia

Discussion Paper:  Technical, Protocol and Funding Requirements for Development of the Asia Regional Standards

Comparative Study on Organic Standards in Asia

Annex 1. Comparative Analysis of National/State Assessment and Comments on CORROC

Annex 2. Comparative Summary of the National/State Organic Standards Equivalent Assessment to CORROC

Meeting report

Detailed Standards Comparisons for the 10 individual countries/regions:

• China
• India
• Japan
• Korea
• Laos
• Malaysia
• Nepal
• Philippines
• Taiwan
• Thailand
  • Forming an open-ended public-private network for transferring knowledge and paving the way towards a framework for regional cooperation on organic labeling and trade;
  • Establishing a regional working group of interested parties to spearhead progress in three areas: harmonization, equivalency and cooperation arrangements.

Note: We ask you to read only the one for your own country.

Comparative Study on Organic Certification Requirements (Government Regulations) in Asia

Annex 1 – Comparison between ISO Guide 65 and IROCB documents

Annex 2 – Definitions of terms as given in IROCB

Annex 3 – Comparison of Organic Regulatory Systems in Asia

Annex 4 – Additional organic certification requirements as per IROCB

Annex 5 – Additional organic certification requirements (besides Guide 65 and IROCB)

UPDATE  9 AUGUST

GOMA invites tenders/proposals for a Study to Support Recognition of Organic Certification Requirement for Asia.

Details of the Invitation are available in this DOCUMENT.

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UPDATE  5 AUGUST 2010

GOMA Invites Tenders/Proposals for a Study to Support Development of Regional Organic Standards for Asia

Details of the Invitation are available in this DOCUMENT.

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Announcement of Results
Workshop on Harmonization and Equivalence for Organic Agriculture in Asia
27-29 May, 2010  SHANGHAI

Participants from 12 countries* in East, South-East and South Asia, meeting at a workshop in Shanghai, People’s Republic of China, from 27-29 May 2010, have declared   their intent to move forward on concrete measures to reduce and avoid barriers to trade of organic products in their Region.  The workshop was convened under the auspices of the FAO/IFOAM/UNCTAD Global Organic Market Access (GOMA) project.

Recognizing that organic agriculture contributes to the achievement of the UN Millennium Development Goals and that the organic sector in the Region is growing dramatically, workshop participants acknowledged the critical need to facilitate organic trade through recognition of various organic claims.  Harmonization of organic standards and equivalence among both organic standards and conformity assessment systems were affirmed as the best approaches for achieving recognition within and beyond the Region.

Aiming to develop a framework for cooperation on organic labeling claims in the Region, the participants agreed on the following concrete actions, which will be supported by GOMA:

Harmonized Standards: The regional working group will develop a regional organic standard through a public-private consultative process. This Asian Organic Standard will be based on core international norms and regional minimum requirements.  The standard could be adopted by several or all of the Region’s countries as a harmonized standard and/or serve as the basis for equivalence of organic standards within the Region.

Equivalence: The working group will also identify opportunities to initiate multi-lateral and/or bilateral equivalence discussions in the Region using two Tools that were developed from past FAO/IFOAM/UNCTAD cooperation.  These are the Guide for Assessing Equivalence of Organic Standards and Technical Regulations (EquiTool) and the International Requirements for Organic Certification Bodies (IROCB).

Cooperation: Mechanisms to promote further cooperation among accreditation and certification bodies working in the Region’s organic sector will also be addressed by the working group.

An initial meeting of the working group will be held in Mumbai at BioFach India/India Organic in December 2010.  The IFOAM Organic World Congress in September 2011 was identified as the target date for announcing complete achievement or substantial progress on the harmonized standard, equivalence agreements and cooperation among conformity assessment bodies.

* Bhutan, China, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam

Download the Workshop Report

Download the Scoping Study for Asia

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Project Description
GOMA plans to cooperate with Asian stakeholders to facilitate organic trade within and beyond the region. At the 2008 Organic Asia conference held in Sarawak, Indonesia stakeholders who discussed options for streamlining the regulatory aspects of organic trade favored the idea to develop a harmonized Asia region organic standard. Other aspects to be considered include intra-regional equivalence – both bilateral and multilateral – and development of cooperation between certification bodies within and beyond the region. The first phase of the project in Asia aims to organize stakeholders to discuss and identify a blueprint for the region.

2010 Activities

Scoping Study

Results from these workshops, and from questionnaires and desk research will be rolled up into a scoping study for Asia that has been commissioned by the GOMA Steering Committee. The Study will give a situation analysis of government regulations and private guarantee systems and will attempt to identify and characterize major organic trade flows.

Expert Advisory Committee

In early 2010 GOMA will organize an Asia Advisory group to assist it with analysis and strategic planning for moving forward in Asia.

Workshops

GOMA will facilitate further discussion of a blueprint for Asia at a series of workshops in 2010 (see calendar in the “About” section of this website.

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Regional Workshop in Shanghai, 27-31 May, Shanghai, China

GOMA and the Chinese National Certification and Accreditation Administration are pleased to be co-organizing a workshop on Harmonization and Equivalence for Organic Agriculture in Asia. The workshop will bring together high-level government officials and key private sector representatives who will begin to network and form strategies for a regional market in East, Southeast and South Asia which functions efficiently through harmonization, equivalence and public-private cooperation. Agenda, General Information, and Registration form are provided for downloading in English language only.

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Report of the Workshop in Nonthaburi, Thailand 4-5 February 2010

The first GOMA consultation workshop on the Way Forward for Asia was held on 4-5 February, 2010 in Nonthaburi, Thailand.  Invited participants came from the Mekong Sub-region Countries, i.e. Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and People’s Republic of China.  This workshop was held in connection with an organic symposium organized by the Thai Ministry of Commerce on 3 February, which also invited speakers from the aforementioned countries, plus Australia.  The purpose of the organic symposium was to inform the organic actors in Thailand about trade opportunities for organic products in region.  400 + people attended this workshop.   The GOMA workshop was attended by 20 invited participants, two observers, three members of the GOMA Steering Committee and two Asia GOMA coordinators.  The purpose of the workshop was to educate key stakeholders from the Mekong Sub-region countries about the GOMA project and to discuss how the project could assist them to facilitate regional trade and a so-called common market – with conclusions to be incorporated into the GOMA Way Forward for Asia.

After presentation and revision of models for a way forward, the participants concluded that development of a minimum regional standard is a good idea for the long-term strategy for development a common market in the Greater Mekong Region.  This standard should start out with a scope of crops only.  It should be developed by key regional actors with reference to the international standards, Codex and IFOAM.  The process for standard development should start by preparing a basic, not detailed, gap analysis between key regional standard and the international standards.  Next, the common objectives of the regions’ standards should be identified, along with those points is standards that are fundamental and non-negotiable. Regarding recognition of certification, the participants agreed to study the International Requirements for Organic Certification Bodies, and assess if this could be the harmonizing tool for decision on recognizing the conformity assessment systems of governments and private systems in the region.  These matters will be taken up again at the next workshop.  For the case of non-regulated countries, The group concluded that the combination of regional standards plus some mechanisms for accepting the domestic CB or its inspections is the most appropriate.

Download the report.

Download a PowerPoint presentation of the model.