Revised Guidelines for the Official Accreditation of Organic Certifying Bodies (OCB)

July 8, 2015

DA DEPARTMENT CIRCULAR NO. 06-15

 

WHEREAS, Section 15 (Accreditation of Organic Certifying Body) of Republic Act (R.A.) No. 10068 otherwise known as the Organic Agriculture Act of 2010 mandates the Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Standards (DA-BAFS) to grant official accreditation to Organic Certifying Bodies (OCB) in accordance to the Philippine National Standards (PNS) for Organic Agriculture (OA) and other relevant standards;

WHEREAS, Rule 15.2 of the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the Organic Agriculture Act of 2010 mandated the DA-BAFS to chair the Technical Working Group (TWG) which shall revisit, prepare and update the guidelines, rules and procedures for the accreditation of organic certifying bodies for the approval by the NOAB;

WHEREAS, Rule 15.5 of the above IRR mandated the dissemination through Quad Media — Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) and posted in its dedicated website, including the LGU's information mechanism, the accreditation guidelines, rules and procedures;

WHEREAS, Section 17 (Labeling of Organic Produce), in relation to Section 15, of the above law states that the label of organic produce shall contain the name, logo or seal of the organic certifying body and the official accreditation number issued by the DA-BAFS; aScITE

WHEREAS, Executive Order (EO) No. 802, Series of 2009, strengthens and recognizes the Philippine Accreditation Office, now called Philippine Accreditation Bureau (PAB), attached to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), as the national accreditation body;

WHEREAS, International Standards (ISO) help to harmonize technical specifications of products and services making industry more efficient and breaking down barriers to international trade, and conformity to International Standards helps reassure consumers that products are safe, efficient and good for the environment; 1

WHEREAS, DA-BAFS, as an accreditation body and as part of the requirements indicated in the ISO/IEC 17011:2004, 2 is required to have provisions on dealing with complaints and appeals;

WHEREAS, in line with the efforts to harmonize the organic agriculture accreditation procedure of DA-BAFS as the competent authority on organic agriculture with the DTI-PAB as the national accreditation body, and with the international standards, there is a need to revise the Guidelines in the Accreditation of Certifying Bodies for Organic Agriculture;

IN VIEW THEREOF, this Department Circular revises Administrative Order No. 13, Series of 2003, by providing the guidelines for granting Official Accreditation to Organic Certifying Bodies (OCB).

ARTICLE I

Objectives

SECTION 1. The provisions under this Department Circular aim to achieve the following:

1.1 Establish harmonized protocols in the approval and surveillance of OCB based on relevant ISO standards and other applicable and relevant international standards; and

1.2 Revise the previous guidelines on the official accreditation of OCB that would be applicable to both local and international.

ARTICLE II

Scope

SECTION 1. This Department Circular provides for the rules and procedures for the official accreditation of both local and international OCB by the DA-BAFS.

SECTION 2. The following are the scopes of operation for official accreditation:

2.1 Unprocessed plant produce — primary and post-harvest agriculture products of plant origin intended for food;

2.2 Live animals or unprocessed animal produce — primary and post-harvest agriculture products of animal origin intended for food;

2.3 Processed agricultural and fishery products for use as food — processed and prepackaged products intended for food;

2.4 Aquaculture — primary and post-harvest fishery products intended for food; and

2.5 Inputs — organic materials allowed for organic agriculture production and processing such as seeds, plant propagation materials, plant protection and pest management agents, compost and fertilizers, feeds, processing aids, which are used to comply with the requirements of applicable PNS OA.

ARTICLE III

Definition of Terms

SECTION 1. As used in this Department Circular, the following terms shall be understood to have the meaning correspondingly provided below:

1.1 Accreditation — refers to the formal recognition by an independent body, generally known as an accreditation body, that a certification body is capable of carrying out certification. HEITAD

1.1.1 Official Accreditation — refers to the procedure by which DA-BAFS having jurisdiction over OCB formally recognizes the competence of an inspection and/or certification body to provide inspection and certification services. Official Accreditation is issued by the DA-BAFS.

1.2 Appeal — refers to the request by the applicant for reconsideration of any adverse 3 decision by the DA-BAFS related to its desired official accreditation status.

1.3 Applicant — refers to the OCB applying for Official Accreditation with the DA-BAFS.

1.4 Assessment Team — refers to the team organized by the DA-BAFS responsible for the conduct of witness audits. It shall be composed of not more than five (5) members of which two (2) are personnel from the DA-BAFS Accreditation Section and at least one (1) competent member from the National Committee for Official Accreditation of Organic Certifying Bodies (NCOA-OCB).

1.5 Audit — refers to the systematic and functionally independent examination to determine whether activities and related results comply with prescribed protocols, standards, rules and regulations and laws.

1.5.1 Office Audit — refers to an audit relative to the thorough examination and verification of documentation and records of the OCB in the office where critical processes are being carried out.

1.5.2 Witness Audit — refers to an audit relative to field observation of the OCB carrying out inspection within its scope of accreditation.

1.6 Certification — refers to the procedure by which OCB provides written attestation that food or inputs or food control systems conform to applicable organic agriculture standards and requirements. Certification may be, as appropriate, based on a range of inspection activities, which may include, but not limited to, continuous inspection, auditing of quality assurance systems, and examination of finished products.

1.7 Complaint — refers to the expression of dissatisfaction by any person or organization to the officially accredited OCB relating to its activities/operations.

1.8 Consultancy — refers to the participation/engagement of OCB or personnel of OCB in activities that involves the designing, manufacturing, installing, maintaining or distributing of a product, process, and/or service certified and to be certified.

1.9 Group Certification — refers to the certification of an organized group of producers with: (1) a central office; (2) similar farming and production system; (3) working according to a common internal control system, which is established and subject to continued surveillance by the central office. Group certification applies to the group as a whole. Certificate shall be issued to the central office of the group but cannot be used by individual member of such group.

1.10 Infringement — refers to the encroachment, breach, or violation of law, regulation, or contract.

1.11 Inspection — refers to the examination of food or systems for control of food, raw materials, processing, and distribution including in-process and finished product testing, in order to verify that they conform to the requirements. For organic food, inspection includes the examination of the production and processing system.

1.12 ISO/IEC 17065:2012 — refers to the Conformity assessment — Requirements for bodies certifying products, processes and services. The same is composed of the international standards to be complied with by the OCB to be required by the DTI-PAB.

1.13 National Committee for the Official Accreditation of Organic Certifying Bodies (NCOA-OCB) — refers to the multi-sectoral committee created under S.O. No. 95 s. 2013, as amended by S.O. 318 s. 2014, renamed and further amended by S.O. No. 308 s. 2015, which evaluates and approves the official accreditation of OCB.

1.14 Official Accreditation Evaluation Panel (OAEP) — refers to the body responsible for the review and evaluation of the results of witness audits and recommendation for approval or denial of application. The DA-BAFS Accreditation Section shall identify and convene three members of the NCOA-OCB as the OAEP.

1.15 Organic Agriculture Validation Team (OAVT) — refers to the team of experts and representatives from various DA regulatory agencies and concerned offices organized by the DA-BAFS responsible for the pre-registration validation, monitoring of licensed and registered organic farms and establishments, and post-market surveillance in market outlets. ATICcS

1.16 Organic Certifying Body (OCB) — refers to a body responsible for verifying that a product sold or labeled as "organic" is produced, processed, prepared, handled and imported according to the prescribed guidelines.

1.17 Organic Operator — refers to an individual or a business enterprise that is responsible for ensuring that production, processing, manufacturing, distribution, wholesale, retail, trade, importation and/or exportation of organic agriculture products meets, and continues to meet, the organic standard on which certification is based.

1.18 Post-market Surveillance — refers to the activities, after market authorization has been issued, relating to safety and quality monitoring of organic primary and postharvest food and non-food products. This shall also include, among others, adverse events reporting, product safety update reporting, collection and testing of products in the market.

1.19 Revocation — refers to the complete annulment or withdrawal of the granted official accreditation certificate.

1.20 Satellite Office — refers to an office in a different island (Luzon, Visayas or Mindanao) from the main office, established to serve as a supporting unit of the OCB in the conduct of its operational activities.

1.21 Suspension — refers to the temporary invalidation of the granted official accreditation certificate. During the suspension period, an OCB cannot issue new certificates.

1.22 Surveillance — refers to the set of activities including witness and office audits, except reassessment, to monitor the continued fulfillment by the officially accredited OCB of the requirements for accreditation.

ARTICLE IV

Criteria for Official Accreditation

SECTION 1. The following are the criteria for official accreditation:

1.1 Must be duly registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as legal entity in the Philippines;

1.2 Must have a Head Office in the Philippines and, preferably, at least one (1) satellite office located in Luzon, Visayas or Mindanao;

1.3 Must comply with the provisions of PNS relevant to organic agriculture; and

1.4 Must be accredited to ISO/IEC 17065:2012 with the scope of Organic Agriculture.

ARTICLE V

Procedures for Official Accreditation of OCB

SECTION 1. The following outlines the various stages of the accreditation process. The step-by-step procedure including detailed description of requirements and issuances is indicated in Annex A.

1.1 Submission of Requirements	The OCB shall submit the duly accomplished form (BAFS-AS-001) and its corresponding attachments. In case the applicant has no accreditation to ISO/IEC 17065:2012, the DA-BAFS shall officially endorse the submitted requirements to the DTI-PAB.
1.2 Application Review	The Accreditation Section of the Organic Agriculture Division of DA-BAFS shall initially review the submitted documents. The DA-BAFS and at least one (1) member of the NCOA-OCB shall validate the review of application done by DA-BAFS Accreditation Section. This includes validation of submitted ISO/IEC 17065:2012 accreditation certificate and the physical presence of the applicant's declared office/s.
1.3 Assessment (Witness Audits)	The DA-BAFS shall carry out the Witness Audits to determine the compliance with the official accreditation criteria. However, for cases where the applicant has applied for accreditation to ISO/IEC 17065:2012 to DTI-PAB, the DTI-PAB and the DA-BAFS shall jointly conduct witness audits. Otherwise, DA-BAFS shall conduct separate witness audits aside from those conducted by their Accreditation Body for ISO.
1.4 Evaluation of the Assessment Report	The witness audit report shall be endorsed to the OAEP for review and evaluation and then submit to the NCOA-OCB and DA-BAFS Director for approval or denial of official accreditation.
1.5 Approval of the Official Accreditation	The DA-BAFS Director shall issue the Official Accreditation Certificate to the OCB.
1.6 Surveillance	When officially accredited, the OCB shall be subjected to surveillance assessments to ensure the OCB's continued compliance with the terms and conditions of the Official Accreditation Certificate. This is done every year after the grant of Official Accreditation.

SECTION 2. Application for Official Accreditation is made by accomplishing Form BAFS-AS-F-001, written in English and in triplicate copies. Together with the said form, the applicant shall submit the following: TIADCc

2.1 Organizational Profile;

2.2 Certified True Copy of the SEC Certificate of Registration together with the Articles of Incorporation;

2.3 Certified True Copy of General Information Sheet (GIS) by the SEC;

2.4 Certified True Copy of ISO/IEC 17065:2012 Accreditation Certificate;

2.5 Copy of Quality Manual including Internal Standards on Organic Agriculture;

2.6 Certified True Copy of Audited financial statements duly stamped as received by the BIR for the last 3 consecutive years, if applicable;

2.7 List of Inspectors with their approved scope/s;

2.8 List of certified organic operators compliant with the PNS for organic agriculture;

2.9 If applicable, list of certified organic operators compliant with other organic standards; and

2.10 For international OCB, equivalence assessment of the private standards against the PNS-OA (guidance manual for using the equivalence assessment tool is found in Annex B).

SECTION 3. The applicant shall provide declaration, manifested by an authorized signature on the application form, that it agrees to comply with all official accreditation criteria, assessment procedures including terms and conditions of the Official Accreditation Certificate.

SECTION 4. The Accreditation Section of the Organic Agriculture Division of DA-BAFS shall review and evaluate if the accomplished form and the required pertinent documents are complete. Upon finding the same to be complete an Acknowledgement Receipt shall be issued. In case additional documents are needed, the Accreditation Section shall inform the applicant in writing (Notification of Incomplete Submission of Requirements) and shall require them to submit additional documents. Incomplete submission of requirements shall not be accepted.

SECTION 5. The NCOA-OCB shall evaluate the submitted documents. Upon finding that the application requirements have been complied with, a Notice of Witness Audit and its schedule shall be issued to the applicant.

SECTION 6. Upon the recommendation of the NCOA-OCB to proceed with the witness audit, an assessment team shall be formed. The assessment team shall be composed of personnel from the Accreditation Section and at least 2 competent members of the NCOA-OCB.

SECTION 7. The team leader of the assessment team is usually the member from the NCOA-OCB. The team leader prepares a witness audit plan based on the itinerary of the applicant's inspectors and provide a copy to the inspectors. The team leader may delegate the preparation of the witness audit plan to a team member.

SECTION 8. The team composition is transmitted to the applicant for confirmation at least two (2) weeks prior to actual witness audit.

SECTION 9. A new team member is nominated from the NCOA-OCB members if the applicant does not approve of any member of the assessment team on the ground of conflict of interest. Results of the audit are communicated to the applicant. If results show that some requirements of the standards are not being addressed in the quality manual or in other associated documents, the applicant shall be required to take corrective actions for a specified period of time.

SECTION 10. If there are no major nonconformity reports raised, the applicant is recommended for official accreditation subject to the close-out of all the minor nonconformity reports raised.

SECTION 11. When there is one or more major nonconformity reports raised, the applicant may be subjected to a follow-up visit or reassessment.

SECTION 12. Recommendation for denial of official accreditation can be made if cases listed in Annex C are encountered. Denied applicant may re-apply after one (1) month from the receipt of denied status and shall follow the procedure from Step 1, except when an appeal has been filed and in-process.

SECTION 13. If there are no issues nor nonconformities raised, or all nonconformities have been corrected by the applicant within the given period of time, the NCOA-OCB shall issue a Resolution recommending to the DA-BAFS Director the issuance of Official Accreditation Certificate.

ARTICLE VI

Decision-Making and Granting of Official Accreditation

SECTION 1. After the evaluation on the compliance to the process stated in Article V, the DA-BAFS Director and the NCOA-OCB shall decide on the application for official accreditation as an OCB.

SECTION 2. For OCB undergoing renewal of Official Accreditation, results of validation activities by the OAVT will also be taken into consideration for the decision making process. AIDSTE

SECTION 3. The DA-BAFS Director shall issue an Official Accreditation Certificate to the applicant ten (10) working days after the receipt of the NCOA-OCB Resolution recommending the issuance of the Official Accreditation certificate.

SECTION 4. The Certificate shall state the certification scope/s for which Official Accreditation is given and the validity of the certificate.

SECTION 5. The OCB shall also sign a Statement of Agreement, which affirms that provisions of this Circular, and the responsibilities of OCB as stated in Annex D hereof. The agreement shall include the qualification that the issuance of certificates to organic operators shall be valid only for one (1) year.

ARTICLE VII

Surveillance of Organic Certifying Bodies

SECTION 1. The DA-BAFS shall conduct witness audits for surveillance purposes with a sample size of 5% of the total number of operators of an OCB.

SECTION 2. The surveillance witness audits shall cover a representative range of auditors (for crop production, livestock, processing etc.) and the different types of operators (individual or group).

SECTION 3. The selection of the surveillance audits shall be done at random based on the representative sample, and based on the perceived risk.

SECTION 4. In the case of reports of frauds, mislabeling and other complaints, DA-BAFS shall conduct necessary investigation including, but not limited to, witness audits and document review, depending on the nature of reported case.

ARTICLE VIII

Change of Certification Scope of OCB

SECTION 1. If an officially accredited OCB applies for any change including, but not limited to, extension and reduction of their approved scope/s for certification, the OCB shall submit the application to the DTI-PAB or other Accreditation Body for appropriate action.

SECTION 2. Decision made by the DTI-PAB or the Accreditation Body shall be considered for the approval of change by the DA-BAFS.

ARTICLE IX

Suspension or Revocation of Official Accreditation

SECTION 1. In case of a reasonable suspicion of infringement, the DA-BAFS shall suspend the OCB and shall investigate the case in detail. If the result of the investigation proves that there has been an infringement by the OCB, the DA-BAFS shall consider adequate sanctions in accordance with the PNS requirements.

SECTION 2. The official accreditation may be suspended or revoked as evaluated by the NCOA-OCB based on the grounds for penalty of noncompliances indicated in Annex C. The DA-BAFS shall publish these decisions in the DA-BAFS Official Website.

SECTION 3. The period of suspension shall be up to six (6) months depending on the gravity of offense. However, failure of the officially accredited OCB to undertake appropriate corrective actions within the suspension period shall result in the revocation of the Official Accreditation Certificate.

SECTION 4. The following steps shall be taken once a decision to move forward with suspension or revocation has been made:

4.1 The officially accredited OCB will receive a written notice stating that its official accreditation has been suspended or revoked. The notice will generally contain the following elements:

4.1.1 Notification that the OCB must stop using the official accreditation rights and privileges and the 'Organic' mark immediately.

4.1.2 Notification that the OCB has the right to pursue an appeal for reconsideration as stated in Article X of this Circular. Notification that, if official accreditation lapses, in order to have official accreditation reconsidered, the applicant must complete the application process used by those seeking initial official accreditation.

4.2 In cases of revocation, the DA-BAFS shall remove the OCB's name from all the published list of officially accredited OCB and shall immediately terminate the Statement of Agreement between the DA-BAFS and the OCB.

ARTICLE X

Complaints and Appeals

SECTION 1. Complaints. —

1.1 In cases of complaints regarding officially accredited OCB, the following procedures shall apply:

1.1.1 Complaints regarding the functioning of an officially accredited OCB shall, in the first instance, be directed to the OCB in question.

1.1.2 If the complaint was not acted upon within 15 days or if the complainant feels the complaint has not been handled satisfactorily by the OCB, it shall then lodge a complaint with the DA-BAFS. Confidentiality regarding the source of such a complaint is maintained whenever possible.

1.1.3 The DA-BAFS shall investigate the complaint.

1.1.4 Where the DA-BAFS considers the complaint to be sufficiently substantiated, it shall notify the OCB concerned and shall require a written explanation within 15 days. AaCTcI

1.1.5 If the DA-BAFS finds the explanation unsatisfactory, it shall refer the matter to the NCOA-OCB for appropriate action.

SECTION 2. Appeals. —

The appeal procedures shall apply in the following situations:

2.1 Denial of Issuance of Official Accreditation of OCB

2.1.1 When an application has been given a 'denied' status and after taking into consideration the recommendations of the OAEP, the applicant may appeal for reconsideration by sending a formal communication to the DA-BAFS, within fifteen (15) working days upon receipt of the notification of denial, signifying either the strategies to address the areas of concern or actions done to correct the situation.

2.1.2 The NCOA-OCB and the DA-BAFS shall determine the acceptability of the remedial actions.

2.1.3 The assessment team shall be sent to re-assess their compliance/s within fifteen (15) working days upon receipt of the corrective action plan and evidences of implementation of the OCB, subject to the availability of the assessment team.

2.1.4 The NCOA-OCB shall review, evaluate, and decide on the assessment report for recommendation to the NCOA-OCB for proper action.

2.1.5 If the NCOA-OCB decides that reconsideration is not warranted, the request for reconsideration will be denied with a statement of reasons and a reiteration of the OCB's right to pursue its application one (1) month after the denied request for reconsideration.

2.1.6 If, following reconsideration, the NCOA-OCB, upon unanimous vote, decides that the OCB is correct in its claim of such error leading to an erroneous conclusion by the NCOA-OCB, the DA-BAFS may overturn the denial decision and proceed with the granting of official accreditation.

2.2 Suspension/Revocation of the Official Accreditation Certificate

2.2.1 An Officially Accredited OCB that has received a notice of suspension/revocation of Official Accreditation may be a candidate for reconsideration if it can demonstrate that there were major documented errors of fact in the information used by the DA-BAFS and NCOA-OCB in arriving at the suspension/revocation decision.

2.2.2 In such cases, the OCB must submit a written request for reconsideration to the DA-BAFS Director within thirty (30) working days from receipt of the notification of the suspension/revocation decision.

2.2.3 This request must be accompanied by three (3) original copies of the report specifying the major documented errors of fact and how such errors contributed to the suspension/revocation decision, together with substantiating documentation.

2.2.4 The suspension/revocation decision made due to the suspended/revoked status of the accreditation to ISO/IEC 17065:2012 shall automatically disqualify the OCB for reconsideration.

2.2.5 The DA-BAFS shall accept or deny the OCB's request for reconsideration of the suspension/revocation decision within fifteen (15) working days from receipt of the request. The action will be based solely on the report and the supporting documentation submitted by the OCB in accordance with the nature of the deficiencies that led to the suspension/revocation decision.

2.2.6 If the DA-BAFS and NCOA-OCB decides that reconsideration is not warranted, the request for reconsideration will be denied with a statement of reasons and a reiteration of the OCB's right to pursue an appeal for reconsideration.

2.2.7 When the DA-BAFS granted reconsideration, the OCB shall be deemed to have waived its right to appeal either the original suspension/revocation decision or the action that will result from the reconsideration.

2.2.8 If, following reconsideration, the NCOA-OCB, upon unanimous vote, decides that the OCB is correct in its claim of such error leading to an erroneous conclusion by the NCOA-OCB, the DA-BAFS may overturn the suspension/revocation decision and grant official accreditation. EcTCAD

2.2.9 The new official accreditation action must be decided by unanimous vote of the NCOA-OCB.

ARTICLE XI

Validity of the Official Accreditation of OCB

SECTION 1. The validity of the official accreditation shall coincide with the validity of the officially accredited OCB's accreditation to ISO/IEC 17065:2012.

SECTION 2. In case the accreditation to ISO/IEC 17065:2012 of the officially accredited OCB has been suspended, withdrawn, revoked or has expired, the official accreditation will automatically be suspended, withdrawn, or revoked, accordingly.

SECTION 3. The OCB must apply for renewal six (6) months prior to the expiration of its official accreditation.

SECTION 4. The rights and privileges as an officially accredited OCB shall not be transferable.

ARTICLE XII

Use of 'Organic' Mark

SECTION 1. The 'Organic' mark issued by the DA-BAFS shall always accompany the logo of the OCB and its official accreditation number and may appear only on, organic certificate issuances, and on all certified products under its officially accredited scope.

SECTION 2. Specific details on the use of the "Organic" mark is indicated in Annex E.

ARTICLE XIII

Confidentiality and Impartiality

SECTION 1. All personnel involved in the Official Accreditation of OCB must adhere to the principles of confidentiality and impartiality.

SECTION 2. Information on production practices, ingredients, customer list, complaint log, etc., submitted by applicants for approval shall not be released in any form to any party or to the public in general without written permission from the applicant or officially accredited OCB.

SECTION 3. However, the following general information may be released:

3.1 Name, address and telephone number of the applicant;

3.2 Date of approval of the official accreditation;

3.3 Any information to comply with a court order; and

3.4 Any information to comply with a request from the NCOA-OCB, investigating an alleged complaint.

ARTICLE XIV

Annexes

SECTION 1. All annexes, or any part thereof, referred to in this Circular are deemed integral part of this document.

SECTION 2. Changes, if necessary, in the Annexes are subject for the approval of the National Organic Agriculture Board (NOAB).

SECTION 3. Officially Accredited OCB shall be notified within five (5) working days after its approval.

ARTICLE XV

Separability Clause

Should any provision of this Department Circular or any part thereof be declared invalid, the other provisions, so far as they are separable, shall remain in force and effect.

ARTICLE XVI

Repealing Clause

All rules and procedures or parts of said rules and procedures of pertinent guidelines inconsistent with this Department Circular are hereby revised, amended, modified and/or superseded as the case may be by this Department Circular.

ARTICLE XVII

Effectivity

This Department Circular shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation and its filing with the National Administrative Register of the University of the Philippines Law Center.

APPROVED BY:

(SGD.) PROCESO J. ALCALASecretary

ANNEX A

Step-By-Step Official Accreditation Procedure

 

Step

Procedure

Requirement

DA-BAFS Issuance

Remarks

Timeline

Initial/Renewal Application Procedure

1	Submission of Requirements	1.1 Duly accomplished application form;   1.2 Updated organizational profile;   1.3 Certified True Copy of Certificate of Registration from the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC);   1.4 Copy of the ISO/IEC 17065:2012 Accreditation Certificate1 and full evaluation report of the accreditation body;   1.5 Copy of updated Quality Manual and Internal Standards on Organic Agriculture;   1.6 Copy of an updated General Information Sheet (GIS) by the SEC and audited financial statements received by the BIR;   1.7 List of Inspectors with their approved scope/s;   1.8 List of certified organic operators compliant with the PNS for organic agriculture; and   1.9 If applicable, list of certified organic operators compliant with other organic standards.	Acknowledgement Receipt/Notification of Incomplete Submission of Requirements	1In case of applicant without accreditation to ISO/IEC 17065:2012, the DA-BAFS shall officially endorse the submitted requirements to the DTI-PAB.	Receiving of requirements will be processed within four (4) working hours upon receipt of complete requirements.
2	Application Review	2.1 List of inspection for the next two (2) months	Notice of Results of Application Review   Notice of Witness Audit2   Schedule of Witness Audit2   Pre-Witness Audit Form2	DA-BAFS and at least one (1) member of the NCOA-OCB will validate the review of application done by DA-BAFS Accreditation Section. This includes validation of submitted ISO/IEC 17065:2012 accreditation certificate and the physical presence of the applicant's declared office/s.   2For approved applications   For CB applying for ISO accreditation to PAB, witness audits shall be jointly conducted by DTI-PAB and DA-BAFS.   For CB accredited by other AB, separate witness audits shall be conducted by DA-BAFS aside from those conducted by their AB.	Fifteen (15) working days upon receipt of the list of inspection for the next 2 months
3	Preparation for Witness Audit	3.1 Duly accomplished Pre-Witness Audit Form   3.2 Documents of the identified organic operators:   3.2.1 Inspection Plan 3.2.2 Farm Layout (Map) 3.2.3 Copy of Organic Management Plan 3.2.4 If applicable, last inspection report 3.2.5 If applicable, last certification decision	Witness Audit Plan identifying the organic operator/s	For CB applying for ISO accreditation to PAB, the CB shall comply with the witness audit requirements of PAB.	Ten (10) working days upon receipt of the listed requirements
4	Conduct of Witness Audit for each scope applied for official accreditation	-none-	Witness Audit Report   Nonconformity Form, if applicable	In case of non- compliance/s, the OCB should implement corrective measures within the given timeframe and proceed to Step 4A, otherwise proceed to Step 5.	Witness audit report or Nonconformity Form will be issued within Five (5) working days after the conduct of the Witness Audit
4A	Corrective Measures	4A.1 Corrective Action (CA) 4A.2 Objective evidences of Implementation	Notification on the Result of the Review of Corrective Action submitted   Notification on Follow-up Audit3	If denied, OCB may appeal for reconsideration, See ARTICLE X of these Guidelines   3To verify the effective implementation of corrective action/s	Five (5) working days upon receipt of the CA and Objective Evidences of Implementation
5	Evaluation of Assessment Report	-none-	NCOA Resolution	An evaluation panel shall be composed of three (3) members of the NCOA-OCB	Fifteen (15) working days
6	Grant of Official Accreditation	6.1 Signed Statement of Agreement	Official Accreditation Certificate	See Article VI of this Department Circular	Five (5) working days upon receipt of the Signed Statement of Agreement

Surveillance

7	Preparation for Surveillance	7.1 Duly accomplished Pre-Witness Audit Form;   7.2 Documents of the identified organic operator/s:   7.2.1 Inspection Plan   7.2.2 Farm Layout (Map)   7.2.3 Copy of Organic Management Plan	Witness Audit Plan identifying the organic operator/s	This is done every year for five years after granting of Official Accreditation.	Ten (10) working days upon receipt of the listed requirements
8	Conduct of Surveillance	-none-	Witness Audit Report Non conformity Form, if any	In case of non-compliance/s, the OCB should implement corrective measures within the given timeframe and Proceed with Step 8A.	Witness audit report or Nonconformity Form will be issued within Five (5) working days after the conduct of the Witness Audit
8A	Corrective Measures	8A.1 Corrective Action 8A.2 Objective evidences of Implementation	Notification on the Result of the Review of Corrective Action submitted   Notification on Follow-up Audit4	4To verify the effective implementation of corrective action/s	Five (5) working days upon receipt of the CA and Objective Evidences of Implementation

ANNEX B

Guidance Manual for Using the Equivalence Matrix

I. Scope & Purpose

This document provides guidelines in filling-up the Equivalence Matrix in assessing the alignment of the Private Organic Agriculture Standard of International OCB with the Philippine National Standard for Organic Agriculture (PNS-OA). The purpose of this document is to provide guidance to the international OCB in using the Equivalence Matrix to be provided by the DA-BAFS. HSAcaE

II. Objective of the Equivalence Assessment

The purpose of the Equivalence Assessment is to determine the degree of equivalence of the Private Organic Agriculture Standard of the OCB with the PNS-OA pursuant to the Criteria 3 of Article IV of this Department Circular. In order to achieve this end, the OCB will provide self-assessment on the equivalence matrix;

III. Guidelines

Step A: Self-Assessment

1. For the purpose of the Equivalence Assessment, the base standard is the PNS-OA and the referred standard is the Private Organic Agriculture Standard of the OCB.

2. If there are several corresponding requirements that meet a specific PNS-OA requirement, the corresponding requirements should be placed in different rows/cells.

3. The choices for the assessment of equivalence in the matrix are:

3.1 E — Equivalent

3.2 A — if the requirement/s of the referred standards is/are higher than the PNS-OA requirements, or if there are additional requirements from the referred standard

3.3 N — Not equivalent

4. A certain requirement is assessed by ticking the corresponding box under the Equivalence Assessment column.

Step B: Review of Self-Assessment

1. The self-assessment of the OCB will be initially reviewed by the Standards Development Division of the DA-BAFS.

2. The reviewed assessment will be reported by the DA-BAFS Accreditation Section to the OCB to address issues, if any.

ANNEX C

Grounds for Penalties of Noncompliances

	Minor Issues — Conditions for New or Continued Official Accreditation	Notice of Noncompliance	Major Noncompliances — Denial or Proposed Suspension or Revocation of Official Accreditation
VIOLATION	Noncompliant practices that indicate no systemic failure 4 in the quality manual or implementation and can be easily corrected without the need for a corrective action plan.   Example: Failure to submit necessary documents requested by DA-BAFS within the given period of time.	Noncompliant practice/s that indicate no systemic failure of the quality manual or implementation of certification but are significant enough in nature or in scope to require a corrective action plan to ensure and verify compliance.   Example: Failure to observe DA-BAFS rules on the use of the "Organic" mark.	Systemic failure of the quality manual or implementation that demonstrates inability to comply with the regulations.
Failure to resolve, successfully or within a prescribed time period, a previously issued noncompliance.
Unjustified refusal of the officially accredited OCB to allow the assessment team to access the premises, facilities, records and personnel, as may be necessary, for the conduct of surveillance.
Minor inconsistencies or omissions in records that indicate no systemic failure in the quality manual or implementation and can be easily corrected without the need for a corrective action plan.	Inconsistencies and/or omissions in records that indicate no systemic in the quality manual or implementation of certification but are significant enough in the nature or in scope to require a corrective action plan to ensure and verify compliance.	Deliberate violation of the regulations of the official accreditation, including but not limited to:   Engagement in organic agriculture production during the lifetime of the official accreditation authority as OCB;   Deviation of operations from the approved Operating Manual of Certification Procedures (including deviations from the declared technical and geographical scope of operation); and   Provision of any kind of consultancy services to certification applicants.
Violation of the non-transferability condition of the Official Accreditation Certificate.
Falsification or concealment of records
Recommendation for denial of application if the following cases are encountered:   Fraudulent misrepresentation in the application for official accreditation.   Competence is not established.   Major nonconformity was not addressed by the applicant.   Presence of a significant number of minor nonconformities that will prove that the management system of the applicant is still inadequate.   The applicant is convicted of any crime or violation of any law, decree, ordinance or regulation by any court or tribunal.   In the event where the applicant was able to comply with the nonconformities but beyond the given period of time.

References:

Department of Agriculture. 2013. Administrative Order No. 13, Series of 2013: Revision to Administrative Order No. 07, Series of 2011 Re Amendments to Administrative Order No. 13, Series of 2003, on the Guidelines in the Accreditation of Certifying Bodies (CBs) for Organic Agriculture. Quezon City, Philippines, 9pp. HESIcT

National Organic Program (NOP, USDA). 2015. Instruction: Enforcement of the USDA Organic Regulations Penalty Matrix. Washington, DC, 7pp.

Philippine Accreditation Bureau. 2011. Quality Procedure — Management System Accreditation — The Accreditation Process. Makati, Philippines. 17pp.

ANNEX D

Responsibilities of the Officially Accredited Organic Certifying Body (OCB)

Officially accredited OCB are responsible for:

1. At the minimum, applying the following protocols in their operations, to wit:

1.1 Update certification protocols according to applicable rules and regulations;

1.2 Ensure certified clients comply with all requirements to the PNS and these guidelines;

1.3 Ensure compliance with labeling requirements of products of operations they certify;

1.4 Conduct certification and/or inspection activities (e.g., annual on-site inspections) of approved scope/s based on their submitted Quality Manual;

1.5 Maintain records as required in the PNS regulations;

1.6 Hear and address appeals of the clients; and

1.7 Submit their organization to inspection and monitoring activities of the DA-BAFS and the NCOA-OCB. This shall include the annual surveillance through witness audits of the DA-BAFS.

2. Issuance of relevant documents/notifications

2.1 notices of non-compliance, suspension or revoking the certification of clients that do not comply with the applicable rules and relevant PNS for organic agriculture.

2.2 certification decisions, including corrective actions and certificates in compliance with the PNS related to organic agriculture and these guidelines.

2.3 certificate to certified organic operators that is valid only for one (1) year.

3. Reporting of the following to the DA-BAFS not later than ten (10) working days after any change:

3.1 Adverse actions against organic operators, including notices of noncompliance, proposed suspension, proposed revocation, suspension, or denial of certification;

3.2 Updates on organic certification including updated list of certified clients with the scanned copy of organic certificates issued; and

3.3 Year-end and other periodic reports of the activity undertaken. Failure to comply with the requirement shall be a basis for the revocation of official accreditation.

4. Group certification requirements should be based on International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movement (IFOAM) Norms for Organic Production and Processing.

5. Source out analytical testing services from ISO/IEC 17025:2005 accredited and/or DA officially recognized laboratories.

6. Follow recommended sampling procedures for analytical testing based on internationally recognized standards (e.g., Codex).

ANNEX E

Guideline for the Use of "Organic" Mark

I. Basic design elements and colors

1. Figure 1 shows the basic design elements of the certification mark is the National Organic Agriculture Program Logo with the text "Organic PHILIPPINE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE" and with the Official Accreditation Number situated at the bottom of the mark. Only official artwork versions of the mark should be used. There are three allowable designs of the mark with respect to the color as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 1. The Official 'Organic' Mark.

Figure 2. Three allowed design of the 'Organic' Mark.

2. The inscription is used in cases where you are not allowed to use the certification mark but still wish to communicate your certification. The basic design elements of the inscription consists of a text that indicates "Philippine Department of Agriculture" in color green, "OFFICIALLY ACCREDITED ORGANIC CERTIFYING BODY" in brown color, all in plain text divided in three lines and the Official Accreditation Number of the OCB in green. The Inscription is enclosed in the box with rounded upper-right and lower-left corner. The typeface used for the text in the inscription is Trajan Pro 3 Bold while for the official accreditation number is Absara Sans Bold. Provided also in Figure 3 the other allowed altered version of color of inscription.

Figure 3. Inscription mark and its allowed alteration of color

II. Basic rules

1. The Officially Accredited OCB should only use the official artwork of the 'Organic' Mark for management systems and/or the official inscription that corresponds with the scope to which the OCB is officially accredited. caITAC

2. Always use the 'Organic' Mark with the Official Accreditation Number in conjunction with OCB's logo.

3. You may use the 'Organic' Mark on:

3.1 Certified Products, including primary packaging or adhesive tape

3.2 Product documentation (e.g., technical specifications and catalogue pages)

4. To avoid misinterpretation, the 'Organic' Mark is therefore not allowed to be used on:

4.1 Certificates (except organic certificate), statements of conformity, reports etc. as an output from services provided (e.g., testing and calibration activities, inspections, assessments etc.)

4.2 Marketing material of the OCB

4.3 Corporate publications (e.g., annual reports)

4.4 Business Cards of any of the personnel of the OCB

4.5 Websites

4.6 Tarpaulins

4.7 Stands, buildings and signs

4.8 Stationary: letterheads, envelopes, invoices and fax sheets

4.9 Vehicles

5. In addition, the Mark should not be used on letterheads. To communicate your certification for the above purposes, you may use the inscription as provided in Figure 3.

6. If in doubt regarding use of marks, you should contact the DA-BAFS.

III. Mark and inscription misuse

1. The original artwork of the 'Organic' Mark should be used in a way that preserves the integrity of the mark. Therefore, the mark should not be altered or used in an improper way.

2. Do not modify the color.

3. Do not distort any part of the mark.

4. Do not alter the relative size of any element of the mark.

5. Do not position the mark on a visually distracting background or on pictures.

6. Do not separate and modify any elements of the mark.

7. Do not place the seal inside any kind of box or other shape that may mistakenly be considered part of the mark.

8. Do not print at less than 100 percent ink density (opacity).

9. Do not use the seal as a decorative element — for example, repeating it or portions of it like a wallpaper pattern.

10. Do not modify the font of the inscription.

11. Do not modify the color of the inscription.

12. Do not separate and modify any elements of the inscription.

13. Any uses not addressed in this guide are considered unacceptable unless approved by the DA-BAFS. ICHDca

IV. Distance and size of the mark

1. The certification mark may be enlarged or reduced maintaining its height-width proportion.

2. The size of the certification mark should be in proportion to the size of the OCB's logo.

3. The minimum reduced size is 20 mm (in height). This is the minimum size at which numbers and letters are legible.

4. The certification mark may be used in such a way that:

4.1 It is the same height as the OCB logo.

4.2 The space between the mark and the OCB logo is the same height as the mark.

4.3 Even when the OCB logo is very small, the certification mark must be at least 20 mm high.

4.4 The maximum size of the mark should be such that it does not predominate over the size of the OCB logo. It is recommended that the size of the certification mark should not exceed one-third or one-half the height of the surface to which it is affixed.

 

Footnotes

1. http://www.iso.org/.

2. ISO/IEC 17011:2004 specifies the general requirements for accreditation bodies assessing and accrediting conformity assessment bodies (CABs), in this case organic certifying bodies (OCB).

3. Adverse decisions include: refusal to accept an application, refusal to proceed with an audit, changes in certification scope, decisions to deny, suspend or revoke certification and any other action that impedes the attainment of official accreditation.

4. A "systemic failure" would be one or more violations that show an operation is unable to comply with the DA-BAFS regulations.