CSMS # 59863856 - USDA Agricultural Marketing Service Organic Filing Requirements – Mandatory March 19, 2024

U.S. Customs and Border Protection sent this bulletin at 03/19/2024 02:20 PM EDT

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CSMS # 59863856 - USDA Agricultural Marketing Service Organic Filing Requirements – Mandatory March 19, 2024

The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) National Organic Program (NOP) – Strengthening Organic Enforcement regulations become mandatory effective March 19, 2024.

USDA published the Strengthening Organic Enforcement (SOE) final rule on January 19, 2023. The rule protects organic integrity and bolsters farmer and consumer confidence in the USDA organic seal by supporting strong organic control systems, improving farm to market traceability, increasing import oversight authority, and providing robust enforcement of the organic regulations. One key requirement in SOE is the use of electronic NOP Import Certificates for organic agricultural products imported into the U.S. This will improve the oversight and traceability of imported organic products.

Beginning March 19, 2024, each shipment of organic agricultural products imported into the United States must be associated with an NOP Import Certificate (submitted as part of the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) entry filing) issued by an accredited certifying agent. Importers of certified organic shipments must be certified as well under this new rule. Certified exporters/final handlers who wish to export certified organic products to the United States must request an NOP Import Certificate from their accredited certifier. Both USDA-accredited certifiers and certifiers recognized under one of the NOP’s equivalence or recognition arrangements may issue the NOP Import Certificate on behalf of their certified clients.

Import certificates may be issued for single or multiple shipments or a specific time frame, depending on the certifiers’ oversight systems. One NOP Import Certificate is issued per commodity/product or Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) code. Upon approval of the request for an import certificate, accredited certifiers generate the NOP Import Certificate in the USDA’s Organic Integrity Database (INTEGRITY) and provide it to the requesting exporter/final handler. The exporter/final handler provides the electronic NOP import certificate to the U.S. importer for entry into ACE.

For more information on the rule please see: https://www.ams.usda.gov/rules-regulations/strengthening-organic-enforcement.

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