Organic Products

E-mail notifications

As of June 30, 2009, the Organic Products Regulations require mandatory certification to the revised National Organic Standard for agricultural products represented as organic in international and inter-provincial trade, or that bear the federal organic agricultural product legend (or federal logo).

The key acts and regulations we enforce are:

• Canada Agricultural Products Act
  • Organic Products Regulations, 2009

Information we provide for the food industry includes:

• Labelling and General Information
  • Canada Organic Regime: A Certified Choice
  • Information on the Labelling of Organic Products
• Certification and Conformity Verification
  • Canada Organic Office - Operating Manual
  • Directives And Memos
  • List of Certification Bodies Providing Services Under the Canada Organic Regime
  • List of Conformity Verification Bodies
• Imports and Exports
  • Attestation Statement for agricultural products certified under the U.S..-Canadian Equivalence Arrangement (PDF 156 kb)
  • Canada/US Equivalency Determination or Import/Export Agreements
  • Letters exchanged between the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and United States Department of Agriculture
  • Questions and Answers - Organic Products Regulations 2009
• Equivalency Determination
  • COO Procedure for Equivalency Determination
  • COO Peer Review Procedure
  • Technical Working Group on the US/Canada Organic Equivalence Arrangement
  • Steering Committee on the US/Canada Organic Equivalence Arrangement
• Enforcement
  • Canada Organic Regime: Stream of Commerce and Enforcement Policy
  • Canada's Organic Product Regulations (OPR): Expiration of Stream Of Commerce and Enforcement Policy
  • Questions and Answers on the Stream of Commerce Policy
• Standards
  • The Organic Standards Interpretation Committee
  • Questions and Answers Regarding the National Standards for Organic Agriculture
  • Questions and Answers - Organic Certification of Slaughtering Activities
  • Animal Health Care Products and Production Aids

Additional government and industry information can be found at:

• Organic Production Systems: General Principles and Management Standards - Canadian General Standards Board
  • Permitted Substances Lists
• Organic Statistics - Canadian Organic Growers
• Organic Sector Development Program
• Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada