§6514 Accreditation Program

Summary

The Secretary must run a program to approve state officials or private people to act as certifying agents who can declare a farm or handling operation organic. To be approved, an applicant must send in an application, have enough knowledge of organic farming and handling, and follow the rules in this law and in section 6515. The Secretary, through the Deputy Administrator of the national organic program, can require producers or handlers to provide extra documents or verification if there is a risk they do not meet the national organic standards before giving certification. Any agricultural product imported into the United States and sold as organic must come with a complete, valid national organic import certificate kept as an electronic record. The Secretary must create a system to track those import certificates and may link it to existing import tracking systems. Approvals last no more than 5 years, are set to match domestic timing for agents in other countries, and can be renewed.