§6521a Organic Agricultural Product Imports Interagency Working Group

Summary

The Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Homeland Security must create a working group to share information and coordinate on imports of organically grown farm products. The group must include the two secretaries or their chosen federal designees and no non‑federal members. It will find organic imports, check that import papers (like national organic program import certificates) are real, make sure imports meet organic rules, collect numbers about those imports, and ask people and groups involved how to improve oversight. Officials who serve as designees must be paid at least the GS‑12 federal pay rate (section 5332 of title 5). Each year the group must send two reports to Congress and post them on the USDA and U.S. Customs and Border Protection 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), show progress on adding organic checks to import inspections, report on systems for tracking fumigation and electronically verifying import certificates, cover training for Customs staff, explain methods to ensure imported goods meet organic rules, recommend ways to improve documentation and traceability, suggest steps to boost compliance and truthful labeling by exporters, and list needed staff and resources. The second report must give detailed numbers (by product, quantity, value, month, and origin) on imports found fraudulent or missing paperwork at ports; list domestic enforcement actions taken at ports; give data on fumigation and notices by product and country; and summarize overseas investigations and compliance actions by country and certifying agents.