Overview of Current Status of Standards and Conformity Assessment Systems

Summary

This paper has been prepared as a background document for the meeting of the International
Task Force on Harmonization and Equivalency in Organic Agriculture to be held in October 2003. Its purpose is to provide a general overview of the current situation with respect to regulations, standards and conformity assessment systems for organic agriculture and
processing.
The subject matter of several sections of this document was previously addressed in the
Reader for the February 2002 Conference on International Harmonization and Equivalence in
Organic Agriculture published by IFOAM. In compiling this overview the author has drawn
heavily on the previous texts updating the data as appropriate. In many ways what follows is a synopsis of the documents in the IFOAM publication. The reader seeking a more in-depth treatment of these subjects is directed towards the Reader.