Answer: In order to comply with the regulations and bear the Canada Organic logo, a final product must contain minimum 95% of the ingredients certified to the Canadian Organic Standards. This implies that the remaining 5% can be certified to different standard or non-organic ingredients may be used (8.2.3 CAN-CGSB).
Answer: Organic products considered to be part of the Stream of Commerce Policy are allowed to bear existing labels, for the duration of the two-year enforcement and compliance strategy. Should they not comply with the requirements of the Regulations, the owner of the products will be notified that they have until June 30, 2011 to bring labels into compliance with the requirements of the Regulations.
The packaging can continue to be used and exhausted. Certification bodies must however let the owner of the product know that the label does not comply with the requirements of the regulations and that they must demonstrate a plan to exhaust these old labels and replace them with new ones that are compliant.
Answer: The CFIA has made a decision to take responsibility for the certification activities outside of Canada for products being shipped to the US (certified to the terms of the agreement) regardless of their origin. Canada Organic Office has committed to provide the list of the CFIA accredited Certification bodies to the NOP.
Answer: The CFIA is updating the list once per month.
Answer: Yes, the Canada Organic Office Operating Manual supersedes the previous QMS Manual.
The following regulations describe the general labelling requirements in Canada including the organic products
In addition to the above, the Organic Product Regulations (OPR) prescribes the following requirements:
Answer: Yes, it can, but in a limited fashion. In fact, a certification body can authorize an operator to use the Canada Organic Logo for the certified products commercialized by him. Nevertheless, the certification body cannot authorize the use of the logo on supplies other than labels. This implies that the operator must contact directly the Canada Organic Office in order to obtain the permission to use the Canada Organic Logo on publicity materials, displays or any other media different from the packaging of his products.
Answer: Any CFIA accredited certification body can authorize an operator whose products have been certified according to the Canadian Standards or to the terms of the equivalency agreement, to use the Canada Organic Logo on its certified products. A CFIA accredited certification body can also grant the permission to use the Canada Organic logo on products certified according to a different organic standard under the condition that the operator will have his products certified to the Canadian Standards during the next annual certification cycle.
Answer: Under the OPR, organic products may be imported under the following conditions:
Note : Notwithstandind that an equivalency agreement has been concluded between the Canada and the USA, the United States Departement of Agricuture (USDA) does in no way endorse the organic certification of a product coming from outside of North America and intended for sale in Canada even though this certification was granted by a body accredited by the USDA. To be accepted for sale in Canada, these products must therefore have been certified by an organisation included on the accredited certification bodies list published by the CFIA.
All importers of organic products must be able to demonstrate, at all times, that the imported product conforms to one of the requirement set out above. The importers must retain all documents attesting to this fact. These documents may be verified by the accredited certification bodies during on-site verifications.
Answer: Yes. Products represented as organic and certified in accordance with the Québec organic reference standards are deemed compliant with the Canadian organic regulations by the CFIA and may bear the Canadian Organic logo. You may consult the most recent version of the Stream of Commerce and Enforcement Policy published by the CFIA.
http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/fssa/orgbio/orgbiopolie.shtml
Under new section 7.3, the Québec organic reference standards meet the new condition established by the CFIA.
Answer: Any Product that is referred to as “a product that comply with the Regulations and may bear the organic agricultural product legend” in the COR Stream of Commerce and Enforcement Policy is deemed USDA / NOP equivalent when the standard against which it was certified is listed among those mentioned in above mentioned Policy. CARTV approved organic standard (QOS) is covered by Section 7.3 of this Policy. To be exported to the USA from Canada, organic products that comply with the Canadian Regulations and may bear the organic agricultural product legend must however conform to the additional requirement prescribed in the Canada-USA Equivalency Agreement, i.e.: Agricultural products derived from animals treated with antibiotics shall not be marketed as organic in the United States. Moreover, their labeling must be compliant with USDA requirements.