Haryana - Get Organic Agriculture Product Certificate

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Procedure

Apply In-Person:

1. A person (a farmer/ group of farmer’s /processor/ trader) who is looking for an organic farming certificate for their agricultural produce must ensure that his/her farm conforms to the standards laid out by the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) for organic crop production.
2. They must submit an application in the requisite format along with the fee and complete field verification as specified by the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP).
3. The SGS’s organic food certification has provided the general standards for organic crop production which are available in the SGS website Link .
4. The operator can contact SGS on phone, email, fax or any other communication method. A contact form is sent by the sgs the operator fills in the contact form with the necessary details.
5. An operator can fill up the application in prescribed format and send it to Operational office address of SGS along with Registration format and Organic System Management plan. The application packet containing templates of Application, Registration form, Organic System management plan, copy of standards is sent to the operator.
6. A review of application is carried out to know the operators activities, the inspection program, Scope, location, language, schedule and other technical details and a Quotation is prepared as per the Tariff structure.
7. A complete application and the responsiveness of the operator for additional information request will shorten the time of application review. It is checked that an operator who has previously applied to another certification agency and received a notification of noncompliance or denial of certification, has submitted documentation to support the correction of any noncompliance(s) identified by the notification of noncompliance or denial of certification.
8. An invoice for payment is sent to the operator for payment after the acceptance of the Quote. Inspection is undertaken only after the payment of 70% fees as mentioned in the invoice. The balance payment has to be made by the operator before the issuance of the certificate
9.  A contract is signed by the Operator with SGS. Now the inspection is being carried out.
10. The Inspection report along with the necessary evidences and supporting documents are submitted to the Certification department by the inspector.
11. The Evaluator under instruction from the Certifier evaluates the documents, assessments and inspection report submitted by the inspector to verify the compliance and sufficiency of the evidence in order to assist the Certifier to arrive at a certification decision.
12. In response to a Notice of Noncompliance, the operator or client may:Correct the noncompliance(s) and submit a description of the corrective actions taken with supporting documentation to SGS.Submit written information to SGS to rebut the noncompliance described in the Notification of Noncompliance.
13. Once the corrective actions are received back from the operator, SGS will evaluate the corrective actions taken and supporting documentation submitted and conduct an on-site inspection if necessary. The Evaluation will be completed in 8 working days of submission of the report by the inspector.
14. The Certification committee takes a certification decision based on the evaluation findings for the inspection and is communicated to the operator in writing. The conclusion regarding the deviations, conformity and improvement measures are clearly stated in the certification decision which is then sent to the client along with the inspection report.
15. SGS may at any time of the certification decision process make request(s) for more information to determine compliance with relevant standards. When the corrective action is sufficient for the operator to qualify for certification, SGS will issue the operator an approval of certification.
16. The Certificate of conformity to the Standards is issued to the operator after the Certification decision. The Certification decision and Scope issuance is done in 8 working days of the evaluation.
17. After certification, the operator can apply for the Transaction certificate along with all the required documents. The Transaction certificates (Provisional/ Final) will be issued after complete verification of the data, source, quantity, and status of the traded product. SGS  issues Transaction certificates for domestic sale and export as per the equivalency agreements.

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Required Documents

The below are the necessary documents:-

• PAN Card of Farmer/Farm
• Aadhaar Card of Farmer
• Land Records (7/12 Extract) of farm
• Farm Diary/Farm Map (Plot wise)
• Sample of High Risk Crop (If any)
• Label & Packaging Material (If Applicable)
• Application Packet & Contract*
• External Inspection Records*

Office Locations & Contacts

Technical Manager -Organic Certification
Address:
SGS India Pvt Ltd 226,Udyog Vihar, Phase-I
Gurgaon-122016 Haryana
Tel: + 91 124 6776300 Ext 6379 91 124 6776379 (Direct)
Fax: +911246776403/04
Mobile: + 91 9871794709

Eligibility

The product to get the certification needs to be associated with the authenticity since two to three years. For first time certification, the soil must meet the basic requirements of being free from the use of prohibited substances (synthetic chemicals, etc) for a number of years. A conventional farm must adhere to organic standards for this period.

Fees

The detailed fee structure is available at Link

Validity

The organic certificate remains valid for one year from the date mentioned on the certificate. Once you have entered in to the certification system, you must apply for annual renewal to maintain your certification status.

Documents to Use

• General standards for organic crop production Link
• Fee structure - Link

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Sample Documents

Please attach sample completed documents that would help other people.

Processing Time

That depends on the history of your operations and your compliances with certification standards and regulations. It takes two years for annual crops and three years for perennial crops to be certified as organic.

Related Videos

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications.
Attach videos using the following tag <&video type='website'>video ID|width|height<&/video&> from external websites.
Please remove the '&' inside the tags during implementation.
Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver,
sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube
width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is displayed.
e.g In the following url 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M' Video ID is 'Y0US7oR_t3M'.

Instructions

• Application shall be scrutinized.
• Any information required shall be communicated to the operator and operator shall submit the requested information immediately.
• Application without prescribed fee shall not be reviewed.
• After review of application decision shall be made by SGS on acceptance/ rejection of the application.
• The rejected application shall be returned to the applicant citing reasons for rejection along with the fees enclosed.
• Fee paid for the applications accepted by SGS shall not be refunded at any circumstances.
• An initial onsite inspection shall be fixed and communicated to the operator after registration or shall be noted in the registered copy of application itself.
• The operator shall market his products only after the label approval. Labels that are to be used by the operator shall be sent to SGS for approval. SGS shall approve the label as per standards and send the decision to the operator. GENERAL INFORMATION: CONVERSION PERIOD: Any conventional farm that has been using chemical fertilizers and pesticides shall have a conversion period of three years before issuing an organic certificate. Any farm where organic management is being practiced since more than three years, organic certificate shall be issued at the end of first year of registration. However, a third party declaration needs to be submitted along with the application. The third party shall not have any personal relation with the operator.
• An applicant can withdraw the application at any time but the fees paid shall not be refunded

Required Information

The below are the necessary details for Organic Agriculture product registration:

• Address
• Fax no
• Certification needed for which standards
• Area of the farm in hectares under organic cultivation :
• Total area of cultivation (Organic & Inorganic) :
• Provide the survey numbers of the plots which are under organic cultivation:
• Provide the latitude and longitude of each of the organic farms:
• Are you aware of methods of Organic production & are you practicing it :
• Are you interested in Group certification:
• What is the source of seeds?
• Are there reports of soil and water analysis
• What is the source of irrigation?
• Crop intended Crop pattern production.
• Source of Inputs  :
• Average Yield during the Last 3 Years
• CropYearAmount of Yield
• Tool kits used in crop production
• Name of the operator
• Farm address

Need for the Document

Organic certification addresses a growing worldwide demand for organic food. It is intended to assure quality and prevent fraud. For organic producers, certification identifies suppliers of products approved for use in certified operations. For consumers, "certified organic" serves as a product assurance, similar to "low fat",
"100% whole wheat", or "no artificial preservatives". Certification is essentially aimed at regulating and facilitating the sale of organic products to consumers. Individual certification bodies have their own service marks, which can act as branding to consumers—a certifier may promote the high consumer recognition value of its logo as a marketing advantage to producers. Most certification bodies operate organic standards that meet the National government's minimum requirements.

Information which might help

• If the Organic System of operation does not comply with the Standards, the operator shall be intimated about denial of certification stating the reasons for such action with non-conformities noticed and time limit for submission of correction.
• The operator may write to certification agency office if there are any complaints against either the staff or the organization or certification decision or any other related matter
• In cases where the operator is not satisfied with the manner in which the complaint was dealt with, particularly related to any certification decision, the operator may appeal in writing to the certification agency appellate authority along with a prescribed fees within 21 days of certification decision.
• The appellate authority shall review the case and submit a decision to the operator. All complaints and appeals will be dealt with confidentially in a fair and appropriate manner and a decision will be taken and informed to the concerned operator.
• A notice of denial of certification shall inform the operator about the reasons and applicants right to reapply for certification or file an Appeal to the Appeal Committee.
• A contract is signed by the Operator with SGS confirming that
• Adherence to Applicable Organic production standards
• Cooperate in on-site inspection visits, announced or unannounced, of organic production sites (farm, storage, office, manufacturing unit etc.) and if applicable conventional production sites.
• Sampling for residue analysis.
• To provide access to all production sites relevant to inspection, book-keeping, other supporting documents and related records.
• To be responsible for any possible additional inspection requested by the Certification Committee following serious non-compliance with organic standards.
• This contract provides SGS and the operator an opportunity to clearly define, document and understand the requirements for certification, and to resolve any differences in understanding between SGS and the operator prior to the assignment of the initial inspection.

Other uses of the Document/Certificate

India Organic Certification is a label given to organic products after validation, which ensures that the product or raw materials used in the product were grown through organic farming - without any chemical fertilizers,  pesticides, or induced hormones. A trademark - "India Organic" will be granted on the basis of compliance with the National Standards for Organic Production (NSOP). Communicating the genuineness as well as the origin of the product, this trademark will be owned by the Government of India

External Links

Place some external links which might help.

Others

The SGS is a Geneva-based inspection, verification, testing and certification company. The SGS Organic Production Standard is a worldwide program for organic production and processing. The program has been developed with reference to IFOAM, European Community Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91, USDA Rulings, JAS requirements and the Codex Alimentarius Guidelines.