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Comment Period Open on NOP
Information Collection Requirements
Reporting and recordkeeping are critical elements of an effective certification system.
The NOP and certifiers gather many types of information to effectively oversee the USDA organic regulations. For example, certifiers collect organic system plans from farms and businesses and report on certification and enforcement activities to the NOP.
As a Federal program, the NOP must request permission from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to require reporting and to track how long these reporting activities – called information collections – take. Information collections help NOP to maintain sound and sensible recordkeeping requirements that support risk-based enforcement of the organic regulations, while minimizing the regulatory burden on certifiers and certified farms and businesses.
On October 17, NOP published a document in the Federal Register announcing its
intent to request an extension of the currently approved information collection reporting and recordkeeping requirements. The Federal Register Notice describes the reporting
and recordkeeping burden associated with NOP activities and requests comments on
the estimated information collection burden. The current OMB approval expires on January 31, 2020. The 60-day comment period will close on December 16, 2019.
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