§6521a Organic agricultural product imports interagency working group

Summary

Creates a joint working group run by the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Homeland Security to share information and coordinate on imports of organic farm products. The group must include the two Secretaries or their designees, must not include non‑Federal people, and any designee must be paid at least the minimum annual rate for GS‑12 under 5 U.S.C. 5332. The group will help find and track organic imports, check that import papers (like national organic program import certificates) are real, make sure imported products meet U.S. organic rules, collect numeric import data, and ask stakeholders how to improve oversight. Every year the group must send reports to Congress and publish them on the Department of Agriculture and U.S. Customs and Border Protection websites. One report must describe barriers to agency cooperation, progress in adding organic checks into CBP and APHIS inspections (including systems for tracking fumigation and electronically checking import certificates and related training), methods to verify organic imports, and recommendations for better documentation, traceability, labeling, staffing, and resources. A second report must give detailed numbers (by product, quantity, value, month, and origin) on imports found fraudulent or missing required papers at ports, list domestic enforcement actions at ports, report fumigation data and owner notifications by product and origin, and summarize overseas investigations and certifier compliance actions by country.