China Tightening up Inspections of Organic Certification and Labelling

After the food labelling scandal at Walmart China which was made public in September last year - selling conventional pork labelled as green food in its stores in Sichuan Province since January 2010 – a new scandal of fake organic hairy crab was exposed in October 2011. Also, after irregularities in organic certification and labelling, that were often reported in the media, the Certification and Accreditation Administration of China (CNCA) has issued two notices since October calling for urgent inspections and strict control of both organic certifiers and certified organic products.
(Picture: organic vegetables in a Chinese supermarket. Are they organic or not?)

The first notice, ‘Further Strengthening the Administration of Labelling Certified Organic Products Nationwide’, asked for detailed measures to be taken by certifiers to make sure every single organic certification label issued can be tracked and traced. The CNCA will set up a national database of organic certification record entries, which means that certifiers are required to submit all the information in relation to every single organic certification, including its unique code and its tag usage, to the database. This information can then be used by the CNCA and also the general public, because currently it is impossible for consumers to check and verify organic certifications online. During the 7th Organic China Expo in Beijing in November 2011, an official from the CNCA said he expected the database of organic certification record entries to be in place in March 2012. (Picture: vegetables at Carrefour in Shanghai )
 

The second notice, ‘Further Regulating Certification of Food and Agricultural Products including Organic Products’, called for urgent inspections by organic certifiers of all certified organic producers, focusing on the production environment, production procedures, inputs, sales volume and labelling. If they don’t meet the China National Standard for Organic Products GB/T19630-2005, their organic certificates have to be suspended temporarily or revoked. The notice also instructed the China National Accreditation Services for Conformity Assessment (CNAS) to carry out urgent inspections of organic certifiers, focusing on their certifying procedure and the issuing and control of certification tags. If organic certifiers don’t comply with the legislative framework governed by the three binding regulations - the Regulatory Measures on Organic Product Certification Management, the China National Standard for Organic Products GB/T19630-2005, and the Implementation Rules for Organic Product Certification - their qualifications will be paused or quashed. In 2004, China had 36 organic certifiers but now the number has been reduced to 23 due to strict supervision. Among them, two lost their qualifications in September and October 2011. (Picture: there are lots of small farmers in China)
 

Such tightening up measures will certainly have a positive impact on China’s organic sector. It is still at its infancy and for Chinese organic consumers the credibility of certification has always been in question since the domestic organic market was launched in 2005. These measures also affect the imports of organic products into China. According to the three regulations governing the organic industry in China, all imported organic products must be certified organic by a Chinese organic certifier in order to use organic labels in both English and Chinese. Nonetheless, before October 2011, most of these imports could get into the Chinese market as conventional products but with the original English word ‘organic’ still on the packaging. (Picture: milk with a green seal, but not organic)

So even if there was no Chinese word for organic on the Chinese stickers used on the packaging, it did not have much effect on sales, since most people who buy such products are able to read some English and understand the English word organic. Since October last year, all imported organic products must have Chinese organic certification in order to use the word ‘organic’ both in Chinese and English on the packaging. For big European organic producers, that have suitable products and are assuming at long-term market development in China, there is little inconvenience in obtaining Chinese organic certification, but not so in the case of small and medium-size organic producers. Although many European organic products use Bio instead of Organic on the packaging, and the Chinese organic regulations don’t say anything about the word Bio, it may still be tough to get away with the labelling issue. A different approach could be the Chinese word for ‘ecological’ on the packaging, since there are no regulations governing its use. (Picture: City Shop Shanghai offers a range of organic products)
 

The good news is that the Ministry of Finance in China announced on the 15 December 2011 that import duties on more than 730 products, which include infant/baby formula and skin care products, would be reduced in 2012 and the average level would be 4.5 %. A visit to the Chinese Customs’ website shows the lowered tariff for general skin care products and shampoo is 0.65 % for the lowest duty and 1.5 % for the normal rate, and the import duty on baby formula is 0.5 % and 4 %. (Picture: Forbidden City in Beijing)