The OGS Review
In November 2003, the IFOAM World Board decided to undertake a Review of the Organic Guarantee System. The purpose of the review was to identify an Organic Guarantee System that will best implement IFOAM's mission in the changed global environment, which includes the proliferation of government regulations, labeling initiatives (including those within powerful private supply chains), and the rapid growth of all organic sectors including the number of certifiers.
The IFOAM mission includes both leading and uniting the organic movement in service to the goal of worldwide adoption of organic agriculture. IFOAM has established 5 intermediate goals upon the foundation of its mission. The OGS is related to the fourth goal, as follows: "IFOAM promotes the development of organic markets"
This goal reflects that organic agriculture can only be adopted worldwide, if the markets for organic products are further developed. In this context the decision to embark on the review was based on the following considerations:
- The GA 1998 asked the Board to clarify the role of the IFOAM Basic Standards “To resolve the conflict between the role of the standards as being a reflection of the majority and the wishes to “improve” organic agriculture by introduction of requirements that go further than the practices of the majority”.
- The IFOAM program 2005 as presented to the GA 2002 called for a review, as follows: IFOAM and some of its members have spent considerable resources on the development of the Guarantee System. At the same time many IFOAM members are not participating in the system and/or feel it has no relevance for them. Before the next GA, IFOAM will undertake a comprehensive review of the Guarantee System including how it serves IFOAM and its members. The World Board will present the results of the review and its recommendations to the GA 2005.
- A number of surveys show that many members don’t know the OGS, don’t understand it or don’t see it as contributing to goals such as harmonization.
- IFOAM has not managed to get government recognition of the system and therefore the system doesn’t work as the harmonizing mechanism that was intended.
- Many IFOAM Accredited Certification Bodies certify a large number of producers and processors outside their IFOAM Accreditation program. As a result, equivalence and recognition within the group of ACBs is limited.
- The WB has revised the mission of IFOAM and embarked on strategic planning, which, among others call for making the OGS more accessible.
First Consultation
With assistance from the Task Force, IFOAM held a first consultation in February, 2004 at BioFach, where participants were given an opportunity to express their opinions about the Organic Guarantee System and how it should be taken into the future. Noting the comments, the OGS Review Task Force (ORTF) developed four scenarios.
Second Consultation
The scenarios describe different options for how a future Organic Guarantee System could be structured and how it would fundamentally function, and even included an option for eliminating the OGS (which was rejected in consultation). In the second consultation of the Review, respondents were asked to evaluate and comment on the four scenarios. The consultation was not a vote on any scenario but rather to get some indication of the direction in which the Organic Guarantee System should be changed and feedback on criteria that should be used to evaluate the options for the OGS. The two Scenarios that interested respondents most (Scenarios B and C) share common points such as a revamp of the IFOAM norms to make them more accessible, but diverge in the method by which the "guarantee" in the guarantee system would be implemented. The "B" scenario reflected the current method (IFOAM Accreditation by IOAS to the two norms). The "C" scenario set up a new program to register certification bodies who could be supervised by either the IOAS orother supervision bodies.
Third Consultation
The World Board reviewed results of the second consultation and decided to move the two Scenarios forward in a third consultation process, held during the fourth quarter of 2004. Feedback came through written consultation and also at a Summit of IFOAM leaders, where the OGS Review was discussed intensively. The feedback indicated that neither of the two scenarios are distinctly preferred, but a consensus emerged that the system should be more accessible while retaining credibility and value. In particular, there was a question about whether a registration scheme proposed in Scenario C would provide sufficient value to make it feasible. But the registration scheme was also seen as potentially offering the most access to the system.
Fourth Consultation
The Task Force and the WB then proceeded to develop a single proposal to move forward, taking the following factors into consideration:
- Summit and Consultation Feedback, including all prior consultations.
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Compatibility with the "universe" of organic regulation and trade.
- Convergence with the work of the International Task Force on Harmonization and Equivalence in Organic Agriculture (ITF).
- IFOAM Mission/goal: Unification, leadership, and worldwide assistance towards the adoption of organic agriculture.
- Different stages of development in organic sectors [from just emerging to (over)regulated], and especially the needs of the sectors in developing countries.
The results of the above consultation on the Organic Guarantee System indicated that there is not sufficient consensus to create a substantially new OGS. Nonetheless, the results also showed that there is big support in the organic world to make the system more accessible and to encourage cooperation. The Task Force made several concrete proposals upon which the World Board in June 2005 concluded that the best way to proceed would be to develop certain elements of these proposals, particularly those around which consensus developed. Those were:
- Comprehensive Review and Revision of IBS that has the effect to differentiate organic from non-organic.
- Continued revision of IAC for greater accessibility for certification bodies.
- Revision of IAC and IAP procedures to facilitate acceptance and cooperation with other systems.
- Development of IFOAM Family of Certification Standards (approval of regional or issue based standards).
- IFOAM Norms to be publicly available as international standards.
- IFOAM “Certification Body Forum” for cooperation between certification bodies.
- Certifier training and technical assistance (connected also to CB Forum).
- Financial Assistance program for low-resourced certifiers.
- Option within IFOAM Accreditation Program for accreditation to IFOAM Accreditation Criteria only.
- Access for other accreditors to perform IFOAM Accreditation.
- A new Seal for the OGS.
- New forms of cooperation with governments.
The WB acknowledged that re-orientation of OGS, would result in a need to promote Best Practices in organic in a more distinct way and that new programs would have to be designed to that end.
The WB also acknowledged that the procedures involved in all the aspects of the OGS needed to be revised to ensure a simpler and transparent system without redundant bureaucracy.
Based on the above considerations the WB submitted a motion to IFOAM General Assembly, in September 2005 in Adelaide, seeking the endorsement of the GA to revise the OGS in line with the above proposals.
At the General Assembly the WB motion received significant support and was approved with a few amendments. The approval signifies the end of the review process and beginning of the actual OGS revision. For further information please go back to the OGS Revision Section.