Regulatory Affairs: The Big O: Organics

Stream of Commerce: It’s a myth that the organic regulations, registered on June 11, 2009, are not in effect for two more years. These regulations are very much in effect, and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has the authority to enforce them as of June 30, 2009. What the CFIA is considering is an administrative stream of commerce policy to recognize the challenges posed by the complex rulemaking and issues related to certification. It is designed not to interrupt the trade in organic products simply due to minor issues. To be compliant products must be organic. During this period and depending on the circumstances, the CFIA may ask for corrections to be made. It’s a softer side of enforcement, but is still enforcement. The policy is to have effect for two years until June 30, 2011.

Applicability: It’s a myth that all foods represented as organic in Canada are subject to the Canada Agricultural Products Act (CAPA) and its subordinate Organic Products Regulations 2009, which are federal trade and commerce laws. The federal government has limited scope on trade matters within a single province. Thus an organic food grown, processed and sold in Alberta is not subject to the new law. Foods that are involved in intra-provincial trade, import or export are amenable to the new law. The big difference is that non-amenable products are not subject to federal certification requirements. Certification may be required under provincial law, such as is the case in Quebec, and other provinces, like Manitoba, are looking at doing the same.

It’s also a myth that since non-amenable products are not subject to the new federal organic laws, they have carte blanche on organics. While these foods need not be certified organic, they still have to be organic. It would be a misrepresentation for a food to claim to be organic when it is not. In such cases the CFIA could enforce provisions such as those in the Food and Drugs Act or the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act that deal with misrepresentation.

Scope: It is a fact that aquaculture products are not agricultural products, and thus are not subject to the new law. The same applies to natural health products, pet foods and cosmetics.

Equivalency: It’s a fact that Canada and the U.S. have entered into a trade agreement recognizing each other’s organic system. This happened on June 17, 2009 and was a relief for many. It is a myth, however, to assume everything is identical. For example, the use of sodium nitrite in U.S. organic products is not permitted in Canadian organic products. And agricultural products derived from animals treated with antibiotics may not be marked as organic in the U.S. So it is “equivalency” with a difference.