§6521a Organic Agricultural Product Imports Interagency Working Group

Summary

The Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Homeland Security must create a joint working group so USDA and U.S. Customs and Border Protection can share information about imported organic agricultural products. The group must include the two Secretaries or their designees and only federal officers or employees. It must help find organic imports, check that organic import papers (like national organic program import certificates) are real, ensure imports meet the organic rules, collect numeric data on imports, and get feedback from stakeholders. Any designee serving for either Secretary must be paid at least the minimum annual basic pay for GS–12 under section 5332 of title 5. Each year the group must send reports to Congress and post them on the USDA and CBP websites. One report must identify barriers to agency cooperation (including U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Agricultural Marketing Service, and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service); assess progress on adding organic enforcement to CBP and APHIS import inspections, including systems for tracking fumigation and for electronic verification of national organic program import certificates, and training for CBP staff; set methods to ensure imports meet the rules; and recommend ways to improve documentation, traceability, compliance, labeling, staffing, and resources. A second report must give detailed quantitative data (by product, quantity, value, month, and origin) on imports found fraudulent or missing required documentation at ports during the year; report domestic enforcement actions at ports; give fumigation data and notifications to shipment owners by product and country; and describe overseas investigations and compliance actions by country and certifying agent.