Docket Number: AMS-NOP-17-0065
Effective Date: March 20, 2023
Implementation Date: March 19, 2024
Summary
This rulemaking amends the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) organic regulations to strengthen oversight and enforcement of the production, handling, and sale of organic agricultural products. The amendments protect integrity in the organic supply chain and build consumer and industry trust in the USDA organic label by strengthening organic control systems, improving farm to market traceability, and providing robust enforcement of the USDA organic regulations. Topics addressed in this rulemaking include: applicability of the regulations and exemptions from organic certification; National Organic Program Import Certificates; recordkeeping and product traceability; certifying agent personnel qualifications and training; standardized certificates of organic operation; unannounced on-site inspections of certified operations; oversight of certification activities; foreign conformity assessment systems; certification of producer group operations; labeling of nonretail containers; annual update requirements for certified operations; compliance and appeals processes; and calculating organic content of multi-ingredient products.
Contact
Jennifer Tucker, Ph.D., Deputy Administrator, National Organic Program. Email: NOP.Guidance@usda.gov.
Supporting Documents
- Final Rule
- Frequently Asked Questions
- SOE Fact Sheet (pdf)
- Press Release
- Organic Insider: SOE Final Rule Core Course
- Side-by-Side Comparison (pdf) (regulations as of Jan 2023 to final rule)
- Electronic Organic Import Certificate
- SOE Final Rule Primers (pdf) | SOE Final Rule Primers Spanish (pdf)
- Proposed Rule
- Proposed Rule Historical Documents
Related Events
- Informational Webinar – February 21, 2023, at 1:00pm ET | Webinar Slides (pdf)
- Presentación del Strengthening Organic Enforcement (SOE) Final Rule del USDA NOP– 16 de mayo de 2023 | Diapositivas del seminario web (pdf)