Managing
One Year Later: A Practical Guide to the
Canada-U.S. Equivalency Agreement
By Matthew Holmes;
When U.S. Deputy Secretary of Agricul- ture Kathleen Merrigan announced the Canada-U.S. equivalency arrangement last June, a cheer resonated through the
All Things Organic conference in Chicago. It
quickly spread from the conference to the
North American media, where organic once
more displayed its progressive vision. From
there, cell phones, blog sites, and international meetings became abuzz with the
world’s first full trade deal between two organic systems.
The equivalency arrangement established
full reciprocity—essentially free trade—
between the Canada Organic Regime (COR)
and U.S. National Organic Program (NOP),
recognizing a common approach to organic
agricultural production and processing. Many
now hope that this will be the first domino to
fall in what has become a long line of global
organic non-tariff trade barriers.
Equivalency agreements facilitate international trade while protecting the integrity of
organic food and honoring the publicly developed standards of each domestic market. The
historic agreement between the United States
Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the
Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) offers a new model for further expansion of
North American organic products into the
significant European and Asian markets, and
the continued growth of the global organic
movement.
Without the agreement, all USDA-certified
organic food exported to Canada after June
30, 2009 (when the COR came into effect)
would have been required to receive an addi-
tional certification to bring it into compliance
with the mandatory Canadian standards and
regulations. Likewise, any food certified or-
ganic under the Canadian guidelines and ex-
ported to the United States would have con-
tinued to have to also be certified by the NOP
in order to be sold on the U.S. market. This
double certification would have been an un-
necessary financial and administrative burden
for producers and manufacturers, and would
have introduced more trade obstacles be-
tween the two countries.
Developments Since Chicago
Most significant since the equivalency announcement in Chicago has been the launch
of Canada’s Organic Products Regulations on
June 30, 2009. Years in the making, the regulations spell out the responsibilities, enforcement and implementation of the COR; they
also reference Canada’s organic standards
and permitted substances lists. As of June 30,
organic products grown or made in Canada
(crossing provincial boundaries) and any organic products being imported into the country must be certified to Canada’s standard by
a CFIA-accredited certifying body—or meet
the terms of the equivalency agreement.
Following the OPR launch is a two-year
“Stream of Commerce” period, which lasts
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ORGANIC PROCESSING
