AMS Pledges ACE Capabilities for Organic Import Certificates, Fumigation Procedures
The Agricultural Marketing Service needs to implement “controls at U.S. ports of entry” to ensure organic certification requirements for agricultural products are enforced at the border, the Agriculture Department’s Office of the Inspector General said in a report. The current lack of enforcement “increases the risk that non-organic products may be imported as organic into the United States and could create an unfair economic environment for U.S. organic producers,” the report said. As part of its response, AMS agreed to submit a request to CBP for new ACE requirements for organic products by July 2018.
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The AMS National Organic Program (NOP) in 2012 began requiring organic import certificates for all organic products imported from countries with equivalency agreements with the U.S., including the European Union, Japan, South Korea and Switzerland. It also plans to issue a proposed rule in 2017 requiring all imported organic products to be accompanied by an NOP organic certificate, the report said. But CBP has no authority to review NOP organic certificates and “limited capacity to take on additional responsibilities,” according to the report.
“Without controls in place at U.S. ports of entry to verify the authenticity of organic import certificates, non-organic products may be imported as organic, if unscrupulous parties are willing to use fraudulent organic import certificates,” the report said. AMS should enter into a memorandum of understanding with CBP for assistance in reviewing organic certifications, and should also request that CBP “update the ACE Partner Government Agencies message sets to provide CBP officials with instructions for reviewing NOP import certificates at U.S. ports of entry and assisting NOP officials to ensure import certificates are uploaded to the ACE system,” the report said.
The ACE request should “include instructions that would enable CBP to take appropriate action (e.g., hold product, notify AMS) when NOP import certificates are not found according to message set instructions,” the report said. AMS in response pledged to implement an MOU with CBP and request new ACE capabilities by July 2018.
AMS also lacks the capability for determining whether pests have been detected in an organic shipment and that shipment has been fumigated, meaning it no longer can qualify as organic. The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, which is responsible for fumigation, has identified the issue, and is working with AMS to ensure these shipments are no longer identified as organic and to update ACE requirements to notify APHIS inspectors of procedures they should follow for certain types of agricultural products.
AMS should work with CBP to update ACE PGA message sets so APHIS inspectors know when to take additional action, such as notifying owners of organic shipments that their shipments are no longer organic if fumigated, as opposed to exported or destroyed, the report said. In response, AMS said it is “working with APHIS to develop mechanisms within the APHIS [Emergency Action Notification] system to identify, track, and ensure that treated organic products are not sold, labeled or represented as organic,” and pledged to “implement these mechanisms by July 2018.”