Accredia - Italian Accreditation System

Agreement signed with the Canadian Food Agency

[ 20-12-2009 ]
ACCREDIA possesses the necessary competencies for the accreditation of organic farming under the Canadian scheme.

ACCREDIA and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency - CFIA - have signed an agreement whereby ACCREDIA formally becomes a Conformity Verification Body - CVB - competent for the accreditation of Control Bodies - CB - operating in the Canadian certification scheme for organic products under the Canadian Organic Regime - COR.

ACCREDIA can therefore formally accept accreditation applications under the COR scheme.

In November ACCREDIA achieved a positive evaluation by CFIA, focused on documents and operational systems of audits, satisfying all the requirements of the Canadian scheme.

The certification scheme is managed by CFIA which is the inspection agency of the Canadian Ministry of Agriculture and Agri-Food, having the necessary authority to supervise the commerce of organic farming products.

An agreement was reached in June 2009 whereby the equivalence between the Canadian scheme COR and the American scheme NOP was formally recognised.

The agreement is applicable to any control body which certifies against the American and Canadian schemes - both within and beyond US and Canadian borders - and it considerably assists the commerce of organic products, allowing certified producers to declare conformity under both schemes.

Anyone wishing to operate under the COR scheme must sign an agreement with CFIA which has final responsibility for all accreditation.

In order to undertake conformity assessments and certify individual operators, the control bodies must have CFIA accreditation and this verification is performed by Conformity Verification Bodies which CFIA has recognised, such as ACCREDIA.