REVISED GUIDELINES FOR THE OFFICIAL ACCREDITATION OF ORGANIC CERTIFYING BODIES (OCB)  
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___________ 2017  5 
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DEPARTMENT CIRCULAR  8 
No. ____________  9 
Series of 2017  10 
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SUBJECT  : REVISED GUIDELINES FOR THE OFFICIAL ACCREDITATION OF 13 
ORGANIC CERTIFYING BODIES (OCB)  14 
 
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Pursuant to the effective implementation of Section 15 ( Accreditation of Organic 16 
Certifying Body ) of the Republic Act No. 10068 ( Organic Agriculture Act of 2010 ), this 17 
Department Circular replaces Department Circular (DC) No. 06, Series of 2015 18 
providing the Revised Guidelines for the Official Accreditation of Organic Certifying 19 
Bodies . 20 
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ARTICLE I  22 
OBJECTIVES  23 
 24 
The provisions under this Department Circular aim to provide the criteria, 25 
requirements and guidelines for the official accreditation of organic certifyi ng bodies 26 
(OCBs), and ensure that officially accredited OCB implement the organic certification 27 
scheme in a competent, consistent, and impartial manner. This Department Circular 28 
replaces D.C. No. 06 Series of 2015 in order to make the following changes:  29 
1. making accreditation to ISO/IEC 17065 optional instead of mandatory 30 
requirement for official accreditation;  31 
2. inclusion of organic certification scheme for standardized certification protocols 32 
among OCBs; and  33 
3. improving the processes and mechanism for decisions  relative to official 34 
accreditation (e.g. suspension, handling appeals and complaints, etc.)  35 
 36 
 37 
ARTICLE II  38 
SCOPE  39 
 40 
This Department Circular provides the rules and procedures for the official 41 
accreditation of OCBs and shall apply to all OCBs seeking official accreditation with 42 
BAFS.  43 
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 ARTICLE III  48 
DEFINITION OF TERMS  49 
 50 
Section 1.  As used in this Department Circular, the following  terms shall be 51 
understood to have the meaning correspondingly provided below:  52 
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1.1 Accreditation  54 
third -party attestation related to a conformity assessment body conveying 55 
formal demonstration of its competence to carry out specific conformity 56 
assessment tasks   57 
 58 
1.1.1  Official Accreditation  59 
procedure by which BAFS having jurisdiction over OCB formally 60 
recognizes the competence of a certification body to provide inspection 61 
and certification services. Official Accreditation is issued by the BAFS   62 
  63 
1.2 Appeal  64 
request  by the applicant/client for reconsideration of any adverse decision by 65 
the BAFS related to its desired official accreditation status  66 
 67 
NOTE Adverse decisions include: refusal to accept an application, refusal to 68 
proceed with an audit, changes in certificat ion scope, decisions to deny, suspend or 69 
revoke certification and any other action that impedes the attainment of official 70 
accreditation.   71 
 72 
1.3 Applicant  73 
a legal individual or business enterprise applying for Official Accreditation with 74 
the BAFS  75 
 76 
1.4 Assessment Te am 77 
team organized by the BAFS responsible for the conduct of office and witness 78 
audits. It shall be composed of not more than three (3) members of which, one 79 
(1) is a personnel from the BAFS Accreditation Section and two (2) competent 80 
members from the Nati onal Committee for Official Accreditation of Organic 81 
Certifying Bodies (NCOA -OCB)  82 
 83 
1.5 Audit  84 
systematic and functionally independent examination to determine whether 85 
activities and related results comply with prescribed protocols, standards, rules 86 
and regulat ions and laws  87 
 88 
1.5.1 Office Audit  89 
audit relative to the thorough examination and verification of 90 
documentation and records of the OCB in the office where critical 91 
processes are being carried out  92 
 93 
1.5.2 Witness Audit  94 
audit relative to field observation of the OCB carrying out inspection 95  
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 within its scope of accreditation  96 
 97 
1.6 Certification  98 
procedure by which officially accredited OCB provides written attestation that 99 
food or inputs, or production systems conform to applica ble PNS relevant to 100 
organic agriculture and other regulatory requirements. Certification may be, as 101 
appropriate, based on a range of inspection activities, which may include, but not 102 
limited to, continuous inspection, auditing of quality assurance systems,  and 103 
examination of finished products  104 
 105 
1.7 Complaint  106 
written expression of dissatisfaction by any person or organization to the 107 
competent authority and/or officially accredited OCB relating to its 108 
activities/operations  109 
 110 
1.8 Consultancy  111 
participation/engagement of  OCB or personnel of OCB in activities that involves 112 
the designing, manufacturing, installing, maintaining or distributing of a product, 113 
process, and/or service certified and to be certified.  114 
 115 
1.9 Group Certification  116 
certification of an organized smallholder g roup of operators with: (1) a central 117 
office; (2) similar farming/production/processing/handling system; (3) working 118 
according to a common internal control system, which is established and subject 119 
to continued surveillance by the central office. Group cert ification applies to the 120 
group as a whole. Certificate shall be issued to the central office of the group but 121 
cannot be used by individual member of such group  122 
 123 
1.10 Infringement  124 
encroachment, breach, or violation of relevant laws, regulations, or contracts  125 
 126 
1.11 Inspection  127 
examination of food or systems for control of food, raw materials, processing, 128 
and distribution including in -process and finished product testing, in order to 129 
verify that they conform to the requirements. For organic food, inspection 130 
includes the examination of the production, postharvest, processing, handling, 131 
storage and packaging units.  132 
 133 
1.12 Internal Control System (ICS)  134 
part of a documented quality assurance system that allows the external 135 
certifying body to delegate the annual inspection of indiv idual group members to 136 
an identified body/unit within the certified operation.  137 
1.13 ISO/IEC 17065:2012  138 
Conformity assessment -- Requirements for bodies certifying products, processes 139 
and services. This International Standard ensures that the certification bodi es 140 
operate the organic certification scheme in a competent, consistent and impartial 141 
manner  142  
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 1.14 Main Office  143 
chief administrative office of an OCB where critical processes covered by the 144 
scope of official accreditation are being carried out. These critical processes 145 
include, but are not limited to, policy formulation, planning conformity 146 
assessment, contract review, review, approval and decision on the results of 147 
inspection. Such office may be owned, rented or leased (or any other legally 148 
enforceable arrange ment)  149 
 150 
1.15 National Committee for the Official Accreditation of Organic 151 
Certifying Bodies (NCOA -OCB)  152 
the multi -sectoral committee created by relevant DA issuances, which evaluates 153 
and approves the official accreditation of OCB  154 
 155 
1.16 Noncompliance  156 
non-fulfillment or  failure to meet a requirement of applicable PNS relevant to 157 
organic agriculture and other regulatory requirements  158 
 159 
1.17 Operator  160 
an individual or a business enterprise that is responsible for ensuring that 161 
production, processing, manufacturing, distribution, w holesale, retail, trade, 162 
importation of organic agriculture products meets, and continues to meet, the 163 
applicable PNS for organic agriculture and regulatory requirements, on which 164 
the certification is based  165 
 166 
1.18 Organic Agriculture Validation Team (OAVT)  167 
the t eam of experts and  representatives from various DA regulatory agencies and 168 
concerned offices organized by the BAFS responsible for the pre -registration and 169 
pre-licensing validation for organic input operators, and monitoring and post 170 
market surveillance of  licensed and registered organic food, non -food, and input 171 
operators  172 
 173 
1.19 Organic certification scheme  174 
rules, procedures and management for carrying out organic certification, which 175 
includes, but is not limited to, applicable Philippine National Standards (PN S) 176 
relevant to organic agriculture and other regulatory requirements  177 
 178 
NOTE 1 The fundamentals of product [processes or services] certification and the 179 
guidance for developing certification scheme is provided for by ISO/IEC 180 
17067:2013.  181 
NOTE 2 The applicable  organic certification scheme is provided in Annex A of this 182 
Guideline.  183 
 184 
1.20 Organic Certifying Body (OCB)  185 
a body responsible for verifying that a product sold or labeled as “organic” is 186 
produced, processed, prepared, handled and imported according to the 187 
applicable Philippine National Standards (PNS) relevant to organic agriculture 188 
and other regulatory requirements, and whose operations/practices are aligned  189 
with the principles of ISO/IEC 17065  190  
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 1.21 Post -market Surveillance  191 
activities relating to safety and qua lity monitoring of organic primary and 192 
postharvest food and non -food, and input products after market authorization 193 
has been issued. This shall also include, among others, adverse events reporting, 194 
product safety update reporting, collection and testing of  products in the market  195 
 196 
1.22 Revocation  197 
complete withdrawal of the granted official accreditation certificate  198 
 199 
1.23 Satellite Office  200 
a physical office, located different from the main office, established in another 201 
location, which serves as support unit of the OCB  in its operational activities 202 
including, but not limited to, receiving of application, and as inquiry point for 203 
interested entities.  204 
 205 
1.24 Suspension  206 
temporary invalidation of the granted official accreditation certificate, or any of 207 
its approved official acc reditation scopes or any specific activities  208 
 209 
1.25 Surveillance  210 
set of activities including office and witness audits, except reassessment, to 211 
monitor continued compliance of officially accredited OCB to the requirements 212 
for official accreditation  213 
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 ARTICLE IV  239 
CRITERIA FOR OFFICIAL ACCREDITATION  240 
 241 
Section 1.  The following are the criteria for official accreditation:  242 
1.1 Must be duly registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission 243 
(SEC) as legal entity in the Philippines;  244 
1.2 Must have a Main Office with one (1) satellite office located in either Luzon, 245 
Visayas or Mindanao;  246 
1.3 Must have an established organic certification program in accordance with 247 
the organic certification scheme as provided for in Annex A ; and  248 
NOTE: Accreditation to ISO/IEC 17065 with the scope of organic agriculture, 249 
though optional, will be an advantage as this could be used as marketing tool in 250 
promoting their services as certifying body and that they could easily apply for 251 
othe r standards, especially international standards, e.g. US NOP standards, JAS, EU 252 
Organic, etc.  253 
 254 
ARTICLE V  255 
GENERAL PROCEDURES FOR OFFICIAL ACCREDITATION OF OCB  256 
 257 
Section 1.  The following outlines the various stages of the official accreditation 258 
process. The step -by-step procedure including detailed description of 259 
requirements and issuances is indicated in Annex B . 260 
 261 
1.1 Submission of 
Requirements   The applicant shall submit the duly 
accomplished form and its corresponding 
documentary requirements.  
1.2 Application Review   The Accreditation Section of the Organic 
Agriculture Division of BAFS shall conduct table 
review of the submitted documents.  
 
1.3 Assessment  
(Office & Witness 
Audits)   The Accreditation Section of the Organic 
Agriculture Division of BAFS and 
representative/s from the NCOA -OCB shall 
carry out the office and witness audits to 
determine the compliance of the applicant with 
the official accreditation requirements.  
 
The basi s for the assessments or the audit 
criteria is provided for in the Annex A: Organic 
certification scheme.  
 
In case of noncompliance/s, the applicant shall 
be required to provide further elucidation  
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 and/or take corrective actions within a 
specified period of time.  
1.4 Evaluation of the 
Assessment Report 
and Approval   The office and witness audit report(s) shall be 
endorsed to the NCOA -OCB for review and 
evaluation.  After review and evaluation of th e 
NCOA -OCB, the approval in a form of Resolution 
will be then endorsed to the BAFS Executive 
Director for the issuance of  official 
accreditation decision.  
1.5 Issuance of  the 
Official Accreditation 
Certificate   The BAFS shall issue the Official Accreditation 
Certificate, accompanied with the Terms and 
Conditions,  to approved applicant for official 
accreditation.  
1.6 Surveillance   When granted with official accreditation, the 
OCB shall be subjected to surveillance 
assessments to ensure the OCB’s continued 
compliance to standards, this Guidelines, and 
the Terms and Conditions.  
 262 
ARTICLE VI  263 
APPLICATION REVIEW AND ASSESSMENT FOR OFFICIAL ACCREDITATION OF 264 
OCB  265 
 266 
Section 1.  Application for Official Accreditation is made by accomplishing the 267 
prescribed application form, written in English and in duplicate copies. 268 
Together with the said form, the applicant shall submit the following:  269 
2.1 Organizationa l Profile;  270 
2.2 Certified True Copy of the SEC Certificate of Registration together 271 
with the Articles of Incorporation and bylaws;  272 
2.3 Certified True Copy of General Information Sheet (GIS) by the SEC;  273 
2.4 Certified True Copy of ISO/IEC 17065 Accreditation Certificate,  if 274 
applicable;  275 
2.5 Copy of Quality Manual including procedures and checklists on 276 
Organic Agriculture based on applicable PNS relevant to organic 277 
agriculture;  278 
2.6 List of Inspectors with their approved scope/s; and  279 
2.7 List of certified organic operators compliant wit h applicable PNS 280 
relevant to organic agriculture, if applicable.  281 
Section 2.  The applicant shall provide declaration, manifested by an authorized 282  
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 signature on the application form, that it agrees to comply with all official 283 
accreditation criteria including terms and c onditions of the procedure for 284 
Official Accreditation, and be subjected to assessment procedures.  285 
Section 3.  The Accreditation Section of the Organic Agriculture Division of BAFS shall 286 
conduct a table review to evaluate if the accomplished form and submitted 287 
documen ts are complete. In case additional documents are needed, the 288 
Accreditation Section shall inform and require the applicant in writing to 289 
submit within a prescribed timeline in order for the application review to 290 
proceed. Incomplete submission of requiremen ts shall not be processed 291 
pending the submission of lacking documents.   292 
Section 4.  Applicant with valid accreditation to ISO/IEC 17065 from DTI -PAB or other 293 
accreditation body shall still undergo application and documentary review 294 
as basis for official accreditation . However, these applicants may be 295 
exempted from undergoing office and/or witness audit unless as deemed 296 
necessary by the NCOA -OCB.  In such a case, the process will proceed to the 297 
Article VII  for the decision -making and granting of Official Accreditation.  298 
Section 5.  A designated NCOA -OCB member and the BAFS Accreditation Section shall 299 
conduct office -based audit in order to verify the implementation of the 300 
quality manual and procedures and other documents submitted in their 301 
place of operation. An office audit report s hall be drawn thereafter.  302 
Section 6.  In order to proceed with the witness audit, the Accreditation Section shall 303 
form an assessment team and issue a Notice of Witness Audit (including 304 
assessment team composition and audit schedule) and the Pre -Witness 305 
Audit Form to t he applicant. Substantiated request for reschedule of the 306 
conduct of witness audit initiated by the applicant shall only be warranted 307 
up to two consecutive requests.  308 
Section 7.  A new team member is nominated from the NCOA -OCB members if the 309 
applicant does not approve  of any member of the assessment team on the 310 
ground of conflict of interest.  311 
Section 8.  The Assessment Team prepares a witness audit plan based on the itinerary 312 
of the applicant’s inspectors and provide a copy to the applicant and its 313 
inspector/s.  314 
Section 9.  Results of the au dit are communicated to the applicant. If results show that 315 
some requirements of the standards are not being addressed in the quality 316 
manual or in other relevant documents, the applicant shall be required to 317 
provide further elucidation and/or take correcti ve actions within a 318 
specified period of time.  319 
Section 10.  If there are no major noncompliances found, the applicant is recommended 320 
for official accreditation subject to the close -out of any minor 321 
noncompliances raised.  322 
Section 11.  When there is one or more major noncompliances r aised, the applicant may 323 
be subjected to a follow -up visit or reassessment.  324  
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 Section 12.  The Assessment Team may recommend denial of official accreditation 325 
based on the results of the assessment. Recommendation for denial of 326 
official accreditation shall be forwarded to the NCOA -OCB for decision - 327 
making.  328 
 329 
ARTICLE VII  330 
DECISION -MAKING AND GRANTIN G OF OFFICIAL ACCREDITATION  331 
 332 
Section 1.  The following criteria shall be considered when formulating decision on 333 
whether to grant official accreditation:  334 
 335 
1.1 For OCB with valid ISO/IEC 17065 accreditation from DTI -PAB or 336 
other accreditation body, results of application a nd documentary 337 
review shall be the basis for official accreditation.  338 
 339 
1.2 The NCOA -OCB shall take into consideration results of relevant 340 
assessments from DTI -PAB or other accreditation body, if applicable, 341 
during decision -making process.  342 
 343 
1.3 For OCB undergoing re newal of Official Accreditation, results of 344 
relevant assessments from DTI -PAB or other accreditation body, if 345 
applicable, and the results of validation activities by the OAVT will 346 
be taken into consideration during the decision making process.  347 
Section 2.  In carrying  out decision -making, the following procedure shall apply:  348 
2.1 The BAFS shall organize a NCOA -OCB meeting to deliberate on the 349 
recommendation(s) of the Assessment Team.  350 
 351 
2.2 If neither issues nor noncompliances are raised, or all 352 
noncompliances have been addresse d by the applicant within the 353 
specified period of time, the NCOA -OCB shall issue a Resolution 354 
recommending to the BAFS Director the issuance of Official 355 
Accreditation Certificate.  356 
 357 
2.3 The BAFS shall issue an Official Accreditation Certificate and its 358 
Terms a nd Conditions to qualified OCB upon recommendation of the 359 
NCOA -OCB in a form of a resolution.  360 
 361 
2.4 The Certificate shall state the certification scope/s for which the 362 
Official Accreditation has been approved, and the effectivity and 363 
validity of the official a ccreditation.  364 
 365 
2.5 In case of a denied application, the applicant may reapply after one 366 
(1) month from the receipt of denied status and shall follow the 367 
procedure from Step 1, except when an appeal has been filed and in - 368 
process. The BAFS shall issue an Officia l Accreditation Certificate to 369 
qualified OCB upon recommendation of the NCOA -OCB.  370  
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 ARTICLE VIII  371 
SURVEILLANCE OF ORGANIC CERTIFYING BODIES  372 
 373 
Section 1.  The BAFS shall conduct office and witness audits for surveillance purposes. 374 
Witness audit sample size shall be 5% of the total number of operators or 375 
minimum of one (1) operator for each approved scope of an officially 376 
accredited OCB.  377 
Section 2.  Surveillance for off icially accredited OCB shall be conducted annually 378 
within the validity of the official accreditation, except for OCBs with valid 379 
accreditation to ISO/IEC 17065 which shall be conducted every other year 380 
within the validity of the official accreditation with out coinciding with the 381 
surveillance of their respective accreditation bodies.  382 
Section 3.  The surveillance witness audits shall cover a representative range of 383 
inspectors of officially accredited OCBs (for crop production, livestock, 384 
processing, etc.) and the differe nt types of operators (individual or group).  385 
Section 4.  The operators for surveillance witness audits shall a representative sample 386 
and its selection shall be done at random and risk -based.  387 
Section 5.  In the case of reports of frauds, mislabeling and other complaints, BAFS 388 
shall conduct necessary action depending on the nature of reported case.  389 
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ARTICLE IX  391 
DISPUTE  392 
 393 
Section 1.  The BAFS defines a dispute as difference of opinion between the officially 394 
accredited OCB or the organic certification body to be officially accredited 395 
and the BAFS  with regard to:  396 
1.1 Interpretation of a requirement of a standard;  397 
 398 
1.2 Interpretation of this Circular; or  399 
 400 
1.3 Working procedure of the BAFS.  401 
Section 2.  The officially accredited OCB can report the existence of such dispute to 402 
BAFS Director in writing. The BAFS shall consult with the parties involved 403 
and with the NCOA -OCB and makes a decision based on the documents 404 
submitted by the officially accredited OCB or the organic certifying body to 405 
be officially accredited to substantiate such dispute. The decision will be 406 
communicate d to the parties in writing.  407 
 408 
ARTICLE X  409 
OVERSIGHT  410 
 411 
Section 1.  All complaints will be received by BAFS and will serve as reference during 412  
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 assessments depending on the gravity, motive, and substance of the 413 
complaints.  414 
Section 2.  Complaints against OCB shall be first lodged with the OCB concern.  415 
Section 3.  Complaints regarding officially accredited OCB , the following procedures 416 
shall apply:  417 
3.1. Upon receipt of the complaint, either through mail, personal delivery 418 
or electronic data messages/ electronic documents, it should be acted 419 
upon by the t he concerned officially accredited OCB within fifteen 420 
(15) calendar days. Otherwise, the complainant may file a complaint 421 
against an OCB with BAFS.  422 
3.2. The receipt of complaint shall be acted upon by the BAFS.  423 
3.3. Where the BAFS considers the complaint to be suffi ciently 424 
substantiated, it shall notify the OCB concerned and shall require a 425 
written explanation within fifteen (15) calendar days.  426 
3.4. The written explanation provided by the OCB shall be referred to the 427 
NCOA -OCB for appropriate action.  428 
3.5. The NCOA -OCB shall convene to discuss the lodged complaint, written 429 
explanation provided by the OCB concern, and come up with 430 
recommendations for consideration of the BAFS Director.  431 
 432 
ARTICLE XI  433 
SUSPENSION OF OFFICIAL ACCREDITATION  434 
 435 
Section 1.  Official accreditation is subject to suspen sion based on any of the following 436 
grounds:  437 
1.1. Failure to comply with the current or revised official accreditation 438 
guidelines;  439 
1.2. Failure to comply with the Terms and Conditions set forth for the 440 
official accreditation;  441 
1.3. Systemic failure of the quality manual or  implementation that 442 
demonstrates inability to comply with the regulations;  443 
1.4. Failure to successfully resolve a previously issued noncompliance, 444 
within a prescribed time period;  445 
1.5. Unjustified refusal of the officially accredited OCB to allow the 446 
assessment tea m to access the premises, facilities, records and 447 
personnel, as may be necessary, for the conduct of 448 
assessments/surveillance;  449 
1.6. Deliberate violation of the regulations of the official accreditation, 450  
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 including but not limited to:  451 
1.6.1.  Engagement in organic agricu lture production during the 452 
lifetime of the official accreditation status as OCB;  453 
1.6.2.  Deviation of operations from the approved scope/s for 454 
certification (including deviations from the declared 455 
technical and geographical scope of operation); and  456 
1.6.3.  Provision of any kind of consultancy services to 457 
certification applicants.  458 
1.7. Violation of the non -transferability condition of the Official 459 
Accreditation Certificate;  460 
1.8. Falsification or concealment of records;  461 
1.9. Request for voluntary suspension by an Officially Accredited OC B if it 462 
is temporarily unable to comply with the official accreditation 463 
requirements. Request for a voluntary suspension during the period 464 
that an assessment is being carried out by the BAFS and NCOA -OCB is 465 
not allowed;  466 
1.10. Request by the officially accredite d OCB to voluntary end its official 467 
accreditation, or part of its approved scope/s for certification; and  468 
1.11. Any other grounds considered as adequate cause in the judgment of 469 
NCOA -OCB.  470 
Section 2.  In case of validated report/s or complaints following the grounds for 471 
susp ension specified in Section 3 of Article X, the BAFS through the NCOA - 472 
OCB, shall conduct an investigation. Additionally, BAFS can conduct its own 473 
investigation even without formal complaints ( motu proprio ). 474 
Section 3.  If warranted, the official accreditation or any o f its approved certification 475 
scope/s may be suspended or revoked based on the results of the 476 
investigation of the BAFS through the NCOA -OCB.  477 
Section 4.  The order of suspension shall be effective and executory immediately upon 478 
proof of receipt of the notification iss ued by BAFS by the officially 479 
accredited OCB. The suspension shall be for a period of six (6) months, 480 
subject to adjustments depending on the compliance and implementation 481 
of corrective action of the officially accredited OCB. However, failure of the 482 
offic ially accredited OCB to undertake and implement appropriate 483 
corrective actions within the suspension period shall result in the 484 
revocation of the Official Accreditation Certificate or any of its approved 485 
scope/s for certification.  486 
Section 5.  Once a decision to move forward with suspension has been made, the 487 
officially accredited OCB will receive a written notice stating that its official 488 
accreditation or any of its approved certification scope/s has been 489 
suspended. The notice will generally contain the following elem ents:  490  
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 5.1 Statement of reason/s for such decision; and  491 
5.2 Notification that the suspended officially accredited OCB has the 492 
right to pursue an appeal for reconsideration following the 493 
procedures as stated in Section 2, Article XIII of this Circular.  494 
Section 6.  During the suspension period, the officially accredited OCB shall not be 495 
allowed to:  496 
6.1 accept and process new application/s for the suspended scope;  497 
6.2 accept, process, certify, and issue new certificate/s, in case of 498 
suspension of the whole official accreditation.  499 
Section 7.  However, applications for other scopes not covered by the suspension, and 500 
those on -going applications received prior the effectivity of the suspension 501 
may still be processed by the officially accredited OCB.  502 
Section 8.  In order to process requ est for reconsideration of lapsed official 503 
accreditation, the applicant must complete the application process as 504 
stipulated in Article V and VI of this Circular.  505 
Section 9.  The BAFS shall notify interested parties and the public of these final 506 
decisions and its statu s through suitable media.  507 
 508 
ARTICLE XII  509 
REVOCATION OF OFFICIAL ACCREDITATION  510 
 511 
Section 1.  Official accreditation is subject to revocation based on any of the following 512 
grounds:  513 
1.1. Failure to comply with the current or revised official accreditation 514 
guidelines;  515 
1.2. Failure to comply with the Terms and Conditions set forth for the 516 
official accreditation;  517 
1.3. Systemic failure of the quality manual or implementation that 518 
demonstrates inability to comply with the regulations;  519 
1.4. Failure to successfully resolve a previously issued noncompl iance, 520 
within a prescribed time period;  521 
1.5. Unjustified refusal of the officially accredited OCB to allow the 522 
assessment team to access the premises, facilities, records and 523 
personnel, as may be necessary, for the conduct of surveillance;  524 
1.6. Deliberate violation of the regulations of the official accreditation, 525 
including but not limited to:  526 
1.6.1.  Engagement in organic agriculture production during the 527 
lifetime of the official accreditation status as OCB;  528  
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 1.6.2.  Deviation of operations from the approved scope/s for 529 
certificatio n (including deviations from the declared 530 
technical and geographical scope of operation); and  531 
1.6.3.  Provision of any kind of consultancy services to 532 
certification applicants.  533 
1.7. Violation of the non -transferability condition of the Official 534 
Accreditation Certificat e; 535 
1.8. Falsification or concealment of records;  536 
1.9. Request by the officially accredited OCB to voluntary end its official 537 
accreditation, or part of its approved scope/s for certification; and  538 
1.10. Any other grounds considered as adequate cause in the judgment 539 
of NCOA -OCB.  540 
Section 2.  In case of validated report/s or complaints following the grounds for 541 
revocation specified in Section 3 of Article X, the BAFS through the NCOA - 542 
OCB, shall conduct an investigation. Additionally, BAFS can conduct its own 543 
investigation even without form al complaints ( motu proprio ). 544 
Section 3.  If warranted, the official accreditation or any of its approved certification 545 
scope/s may be revoked based on the results of the investigation of the 546 
BAFS through the NCOA -OCB.  547 
Section 4.  The order of revocation shall be effective and e xecutory immediately upon 548 
proof of receipt of the notification issued by BAFS by the officially 549 
accredited OCB.  550 
Section 5.  Once a decision to move forward with revocation has been made, the 551 
officially accredited OCB will receive a written notice stating that its off icial 552 
accreditation or any of its approved certification scope/s has been revoked. 553 
The notice will generally contain the following elements:  554 
5.3 Statement of reason/s for such decision; and  555 
5.4 Notification that the revoked officially accredited OCB has the right 556 
to pursue an appeal for reconsideration following the procedures 557 
as stated in Section 2, Article XIII of this Circular.  558 
Section 6.  In order to process request for reco nsideration of lapsed official 559 
accreditation, the applicant must complete the application process as 560 
stipulated in Article V and VI of this Circular.  561 
Section 7.  The BAFS shall remove the OCB’s name from all the published list of 562 
officially accredited OCB and shall im mediately terminate the Statement of 563 
Agreement between the BAFS and the OCB.  564 
Section 8.  The BAFS shall notify interested parties and the public of these final 565 
decisions and its status through suitable media.  566  
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 ARTICLE XIII  567 
APPEALS  568 
 569 
Section 1. The appeal procedures shall apply in the following situations:  570 
 571 
1.1 Denial of Issuance of Official Accreditation of OCB  572 
 573 
1.1.1 The applicant may file an appeal with BAFS to reconsider such 574 
decision attaching substantial documentation or the strategies to 575 
address the cause of such decisio n within fifteen (15) calendar days 576 
from receipt of notification for denied application.  577 
 578 
1.1.2 The NCOA -OCB shall evaluate the proposed remedial actions 579 
including the implementation timeline of the OCB to be officially 580 
accredited, and shall send a copy of the decision to the said OCB for 581 
its implementation.  582 
 583 
1.1.3 The applicant shall notify the BAFS of its compliance by submitting 584 
objective evidences of actions taken. Within fifteen (15) working 585 
days, an assessment team shall validate the evidence of 586 
implementation o f the corrective action plan.  587 
 588 
1.1.4 The NCOA -OCB shall review, evaluate, and decide on the filed appeal 589 
based on the assessment report.  590 
 591 
1.1.5 If the NCOA -OCB decides that reconsideration is not warranted, the 592 
appeal will be denied stating the reasons and a reiterat ion of the 593 
OCB’s right to pursue its application one (1) month after the denial 594 
of the appeal.  595 
 596 
1.1.6 If the NCOA -OCB decides that the appeal is meritorious, the BAFS 597 
may reverse overturn the denial decision and proceed with the 598 
granting of official accreditatio n as provided in Clause 4.3 to 4.5, 599 
Section 4 of Article VII.  600 
 601 
1.2 Suspension/Revocation of the Official Accreditation Certificate  602 
 603 
1.2.1 The officially accredited OCB may file an appeal with BAFS through 604 
formal written request within fifteen (15) calendar days fro m 605 
receipt of notice of  suspension/revocation.  606 
 607 
1.2.2 The appeal must be accompanied by a report specifying the major 608 
documented errors of fact and how such errors contributed to the 609 
suspension/revocation decision, together with other relevant 610 
substantiating doc umentation.  611 
 612 
1.2.3 If suspension/revocation decision is due to the suspended/revoked 613 
status of the accreditation to ISO/IEC 17065, this shall disqualify the 614  
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 OCB to appeal, unless otherwise the ISO/IEC 17065 accreditation is 615 
reinstated.  616 
 617 
1.2.4 The BAFS shall grant or deny the officially accredited OCB’s appeal 618 
of the suspension/revocation decision based on the statement of 619 
reason/s and submitted documented facts within twenty (20) 620 
calendar days from receipt of the appeal. The action will be based 621 
solely on the report a nd the supporting documentation submitted by 622 
the officially accredited OCB in accordance with the nature of the 623 
non -conformance that led to the suspension/revocation decision.  624 
 625 
1.2.5 If the BAFS and NCOA -OCB decides that the appeal is not 626 
meritorious, the appeal  will be denied with a statement of reasons 627 
and such decision shall be final and executory.  628 
 629 
1.2.6 In case the appeal on the original suspension decision is meritorious, 630 
the BAFS shall lift the suspension or reverse overturn the revocation 631 
decision based on the recommendations of the NCOA -OCB, and grant 632 
official accreditation. Otherwise, the original suspension decision is 633 
final and executory.  634 
 635 
1.2.7 The decision for the appeal of suspension/revocation shall be 636 
decided by unanimous vote of the NCOA -OCB.  637 
 638 
 639 
ARTICLE XIV  640 
VALIDITY OF THE OFFICIAL ACCREDITATION OF OCB  641 
 642 
Section 1.  The validity of the official accreditation shall be five (5) years.  643 
Section 2.  The BAFS shall notify the officially accredited OCB to apply for renewal of 644 
official accreditation, six (6) months prior to the expiration of  its official 645 
accreditation.  646 
Section 3.  The rights and privileges as an officially accredited OCB shall not be 647 
transferable.  648 
 649 
ARTICLE XV  650 
CHANGE IN CERTIFICATION SCOPE OF OCB  651 
 652 
If an officially accredited OCB applies for any change, either extension or reduction of 653 
their approved scope/s for certification, the OCB shall submit an application for change 654 
of scope including necessary documentation to substantiate the request to enable the 655 
NCOA -OCB and BAFS for evaluation and, if deemed necessary by the NCOA -OCB, for 656 
conduct of assessments.  657 
 658 
 659 
 660  
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 ARTICLE XV  661 
USE OF  ‘ORGANIC MARK ’  662 
 663 
Section 1.  The BAFS shall issue the ‘Organic’ mark to the officially accredited OCB.  664 
Section 2.  The ‘Organic’  mark shall be provided by the officially accredited OCB to its 665 
client with active certification. The mark shall always accompany the logo 666 
of the OCB and its official accreditation number and may appear only on, 667 
organic certificate issuances, and on all cer tified products under its scope 668 
of certification.  669 
Section 3.  Specific details and guidelines on the use of the  ‘Organic’  mark is indicated 670 
in Annex F . 671 
ARTICLE XVI  672 
CONFIDENTIALITY AND IMPARTIALITY  673 
 674 
Section 1.  All personnel involved in the Official Accreditation of OCB shall adh ere to 675 
the principles of confidentiality and impartiality.   676 
Section 2.  Information on production practices, ingredients, customer list, complaint 677 
log, etc., submitted by applicants for approval shall not be released in any 678 
form to any party or to the public in general without written permission 679 
from the applicant or officiall y accredited OCB.   680 
Section 3.  However, the following general information may be made accessible to 681 
the public:  682 
3.1 Name, address and contact details of the OCB;  683 
3.2 Effectivity date and validity of the official accreditation;  684 
3.3 Approved scope of official accreditation;  685 
3.4 List o f operators with approved certification including the scope, 686 
validity, products and area covered, and any other details that may 687 
be released for public access;  688 
3.5 Any information to comply with a court order; and  689 
3.6 Any information to comply with a request from the NCOA -OCB, 690 
investigating an alleged complaint.  691 
 692 
ARTICLE XVII  693 
LIABILITY  694 
 695 
The BAFS shall not be responsible for any damages, which the OCB may encounter as a 696 
result of any action or decision by those who are carrying out the tasks on behalf of 697 
BAFS, and a ny failure to the grant of official accreditation or abeyance / suspension / 698 
forced withdrawal of the accreditation, and neither shall BAFS be held responsible for 699 
any damage whatsoever, caused to any party by the acts of OCB.  700  
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 ARTICLE XVIII  701 
ANNEXES  702 
 703 
Section 3.  All annexes, or any part thereof, referred to in this Circular are deemed 704 
integral part of this document.  705 
Section 4.  Changes, if necessary, in the Annexes are subject for the approval of the 706 
National Organic Agriculture Board (NOAB).  707 
Section 5.  All interested parties shall be notified of the changes in the annexes.  708 
 709 
ARTICLE XIX  710 
TRANSITORY PROVISIONS  711 
 712 
All OCBs and operators covered by this Circular shall be given one (1) year transition 713 
period upon effectivity of this Circular. During the transition period, existing rules and 714 
regulations of relevant regulatory agencies apply.  715 
 716 
The officially accredited OCBs shall be given a transition period of one (1) year upon 717 
registration of the PNS relevant to organic agriculture to the Bureau of Philippine 718 
Standards of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI -BPS).  719 
 720 
ARTICLE XX  721 
NON -EXCLUSI VITY  722 
 723 
All existing rules and regulations, policies, procedures, and standards consistent with 724 
this Circular shall continue to be in full force and effect.  725 
 726 
 727 
ARTICLE XXI  728 
SEPARABILITY CLAUSE  729 
 730 
Should any provision of this Department Circular or any part thereof be declared 731 
invalid, the other provisions, so far as they are separable, shall remain in force and 732 
effect.  733 
 734 
ARTICLE XXII  735 
REPEALING CLAUSE  736 
 737 
All rules and procedures or parts of said rules and procedures of pertinent guidelines 738 
inconsistent with this  Department Circular are hereby revised, amended, modified 739 
and/or superseded as the case may be by this Department Circular.  740 
 741 
 742 
 743 
 744  
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 ARTICLE XXIII  745 
EFFECTIVITY  746 
 747 
This Department Circular shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in the 748 
Official G azette and/or in a newspaper of general circulation and its filing with the 749 
National Administrative Register of the University of the Philippines Law Center.  750 
 751 
 752 
 753 
APPROVED BY:  754 
 755 
 756 
 757 
 758 
EMMANUEL F. PI ÑOL  759 
Secretar y 760 
 761 
  762  
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 Annex A  763 
(normative)  764 
 765 
Organic certification scheme  766 
 767 
Operations manual of OCB should explicitly reflect the following:  768 
 769 
A.1 Functions and activities for the organic certification program of the OCB  770 
  771 
The OCB shall, at minimum, include the following functions and activities in their 772 
organic certification program:  773 
 774 
⏤ Evaluation, combination of selection and determination of 775 
characteristics (Selection , including planning and preparation of 776 
activities, specifications of requirements, e.g. normative documents, 777 
sampling, as applicable;  Determination of characteri stics , as applicable 778 
by: (a) Testing, (b) Inspection, (c) Design appraisal, (d) Assessment of 779 
services/processes, and (e) Other determination activities, e.g. verification;)  780 
⏤ Review  - Examining the evidence of conformity obtained during the 781 
determination st age to establish whether the specified requirements have 782 
been met;  783 
⏤ Decision on certification  - Granting, maintaining, extending, reducing, 784 
suspending, withdrawing certification; and  785 
⏤ Attestation  - Issuing a certificate of conformity or other statement of 786 
conformity (attestation)  787 
  788 
A.2 Standard and Normative Documents  789 
 790 
The Philippine National Standards (PNS) relevant to organic agriculture, against which 791 
the organic production and its products are eva luated, are the recent version of the 792 
following standards:  793 
⏤ PNS for organic agriculture;  794 
⏤ PNS for organic aquaculture;  795 
⏤ PNS for organic soil amendments;  796 
⏤ PNS for organic biocontrol agents;  797 
⏤ PNS for organic milled rice; and  798 
⏤ PNS for organic aquaculture feeds.  799 
The applicable PNS relevant to organic agriculture that will be developed after 800 
effectivity of this Circular shall become a normative document for this organic 801  
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Draft as of 27 October  2017  Page 21 of 51 
 certification scheme unless the purpose of the standard/s are otherwise not necessary 802 
for the organ ic certification.  803 
A.3 General requirements for certification  804 
 805 
Organic certifying bodies shall enforce the scoping scheme for certification found in 806 
Table A.1:  807 
 808 
Table A.1 -- Scopes for certification, coding system, and its description  809 
 810 
Scope  Code  Description  
Crop Production  CP For production of unprocessed plant 
produce: primary and post -harvest 
agriculture products of plant origin 
intended for food  
Animal Production  
 AP For production of live animals or 
unprocessed animal produce: primary 
and post -harvest agriculture products 
of animal origin intended for food; 
including beekeeping  
Special Areas  
(Wild harvesting and 
mushroom production)  SA For production of cultivated 
mushrooms and herbs; and plants or 
portions of plants, mushrooms, and 
honey that are collected or harvested 
from defined sites which are 
maintained in a natural state and are 
not cultivated or otherwise managed  
Processing  
 Pr For processing and prepackaging of 
agricultural and fishery products for 
use as food  
Aquaculture  
 Aq For production of primary and post -
harvest fishery products intended for 
food  
Inputs  
  In For production of organic materials 
allowed for organic agriculture 
production and processing such as 
seeds, plant propagation materials, 
stocks, plant protection and pest 
management agents (biocontrol 
agents), organic soil amendments  
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 (organic fertilizers,  compost/soil 
conditioners, microbial inoculants, 
plant supplements), feeds, processing 
aids, which are used to comply with the 
requirements of applicable PNS for 
organic agriculture  
 811 
 812 
a) OCBs shall declare full adoption of the applicable PNS relevant to organic 813 
agriculture. However, OCBs can have additional requirements for certification, as 814 
necessary.  815 
 816 
b) OCBs shall ensure non -discriminatory certification requirements to all the 817 
operators of organic agriculture.  818 
 819 
 820 
c) The organic certification system should be based on written agreements, with 821 
clear responsibilities of all parties involved in the chain of operations for 822 
production of an organic produce and/or product. The operators should sign 823 
contracts/agreements requiring them to:  824 
 825 
 826 
⏤ Follow the applicable PNS and other regulatory requirements as provided 827 
for in this Circular;  828 
⏤ Give access to the certification body or designated authority and provide 829 
any necessary information for third party audit inspection purposes, e.g. 830 
access to:  831 
- all relevant units and facili ties of the organic operation including the 832 
non-organic production and handling units associated by ownership 833 
or management to the operator;  834 
- accounts and sales related records of the organic operation for the 835 
purposes of traceability of origin, nature and quantities of all raw 836 
materials bought, and the use of such materials. In addition, written 837 
and/or documentary accounts should be accessed of the nature , 838 
quantities and consignees of all agricultural products sold;  839 
- its record -keeping system adapted to the  scope of certification that 840 
enables the OCB to retrieve information necessary for verification of 841 
the production, storage, processing, purchase and sale; and other 842 
relevant documentation to provide adequate inspection trails and 843 
traceability of organic pr oduct and/or products; and  844 
- information regarding all complaints received by the certified clients 845 
relating to the certified products;  846  
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 ⏤ Notify the OCB of any change that may affect the ability of the operator to 847 
conform with the applicable organic certificat ion requirements; and  848 
EXAMPLE Change may refer to changes in group membership, 849 
plantation areas, or type of products, etc.  850 
⏤ Provide the OCB with information regarding any previous organic 851 
certification and/or other certification scheme currently undertaken or in 852 
progress.  853 
⏤ Provide the OCB with the updated information on the scope of certification, 854 
which the operator maintains or intends to maintain for ensuring organic 855 
integrity.  856 
A.4 Resource requirements  857 
 858 
a) OCB Personnel. The OCB should ensure that its personnel have sufficient 859 
knowledge on the applicable PNS and regulatory requirements relevant to 860 
organic certification identified by the BAFS.  861 
b) Qualification Criteria. The following criteria should be applied for OCB 862 
personnel in organic certification, which should include but not limited to, as 863 
appropriate, the contract review personnel, inspection and evaluation personnel, 864 
technical reviewers and decision -makers.  These personnel should have:  865 
⏤ Sufficient background and knowledge in agriculture and/or food 866 
technology . The requirements may vary based on the functions undertaken 867 
by the personnel and the product category. Knowledge may be gained 868 
typically through educational qualification and/or experience, adequate to 869 
provide knowledge of organic products and processes.  Personnel should be 870 
qualified on the basis of use of appropriate evaluation methods.  871 
NOTE A number of evaluation methods like review of records; feedback; 872 
interviews; observations/witness; and examination can be used to evaluate 873 
knowledge and skills  874 
⏤ Received appropriate training with respect to organic agriculture, food, 875 
processing, trade, specific production areas (e.g. mushroom production) 876 
and applicable PNS and other regulatory requirements relevant to organic 877 
certification.  878 
⏤ Gained experience by pa rticipation in sufficient number of inspection/s or 879 
its equivalent man -days as defined by the OCB for personnel involved in 880 
inspection and evaluation activities.  881 
c) Decisions on organic certification shall be undertaken by a competent person or 882 
Committee ful filling the same qualification criteria cited above.  883 
d) The OCB shall actively identify training at entry level as well as based on needs 884 
and develop training program based on systematic performance reviews and 885 
provide, as necessary, training to its staff on the requirements of the applicable 886  
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 PNS and other regulatory requirements identified by the BAFS, the organic 887 
certification scheme, and relevant methodologies. Adequacy of such training 888 
plans, training and evaluation records, and the related materials shoul d be 889 
maintained.  890 
e) The performance assessment shall be done regularly for each 891 
evaluator/inspector should include observation of a sufficient number of on -site 892 
inspection/s or its equivalent man -days as defined by the regulations of the 893 
BAFS, normally not lo nger than every three years, unless there is sufficient 894 
supporting evidence that the inspector is continuing to perform competently.  895 
 896 
A.5 Process Requirements  897 
 898 
General  899 
 900 
a) OCBs shall have defined requirements for its functions as well as certification 901 
process req uirements.  902 
 903 
b) OCBs shall take into consideration explicitly the following aspects as applicable: 904 
retroactive recognition of conversion period, separation and inspection of non - 905 
organic production units, parallel/split production, group certification and wild 906 
collection.  907 
 908 
 909 
c) OCBs shall have available and implement policies and procedures for risk -based 910 
inspections, management of deviations, non -conformities and corrective actions, 911 
exchange of information between CBs and BAFS as the competent authority.  912 
 913 
 914 
Application  915 
 916 
a) When accepting an application, an OCB shall ensure availability of all the 917 
background information in respect of the operator, and whether another CB had 918 
denied certification to the applying operator.  919 
 920 
b) OCBs shall also have a documented system for corroborating the information 921 
received from the OCB who had previously certified the operator.  922 
 923 
 924 
Inspection  925 
 926 
a) OCBs shall ensure sufficiency in number and technical competence of inspectors 927 
for all of their approved scopes of official accreditation.  928 
 929 
b) OCBs shall ensure that sufficient inspection is conducted, following the 930 
inspection protocols set by the OCBs in accordance with the international best 931 
practices for inspection such as identification of organic critical points (OCP), 932 
prior any certificatio n decision.  933  
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  934 
 935 
c) The inspection protocol of the OCB shall at the very minimum undertake the 936 
following:  937 
 938 
 939 
⏤ interviews with relevant personnel;  940 
⏤ assessment of the production, processing and handling system by means of 941 
visits to facilities, fields and storage unit s (which may also include visits to 942 
non-organic production units);  943 
⏤ document reviews (manuals, protocols, internal control systems, etc). 944 
Review of records and accounts in order to verify flow of goods 945 
(production/sales reconciliation on farms, input/output  reconciliation and 946 
the trace back audits in processing and handling facilities);  947 
⏤  identification of areas of risk and organic integrity;  948 
⏤ critical analysis of mass balance and traceability of records (i.e. production 949 
records, sales records, etc); and  950 
⏤ verification that changes to the standards and to requirements of the 951 
certification body have been effectively implemented, and that corrective 952 
actions have been taken.  953 
d) Inspection expenses incurred by inspector/s should be absolutely necessary in 954 
the performa nce of the assignment, and supported by receipts, chargeable to the 955 
organic operator subjected to inspection.  956 
 957 
e) Special treatments or lavish preparations for inspectors is strictly prohibited to 958 
ensure unbiased performance of inspection and its decision.  959 
 960 
 961 
f) The OCBs shall implement a public notification mechanism on changes in the list 962 
of bona fide inspectors and other technical staff under supervision.  963 
 964 
 965 
Sampling  966 
 967 
a) The CB shall have documented policies and procedures generally including the 968 
following:  969 
 970 
⏤ System for identification of cases in which samples should be taken for 971 
analysis where, use of a substance prohibited by the PNS, is suspected.  972 
⏤ A procedure on how to take samples and send them to the laboratory.  973 
⏤ The number of samples to be taken and the fr equency of sampling.  974  
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 b) The following provisions shall apply to officially accredited OCBs, competent 975 
authorities, and DA regulatory agencies who submit samples from organic 976 
agriculture and fishery establishment/farm for laboratory testing and analysis.  977 
 978 
c) Samp les shall be collected for laboratory testing and analysis based on the level 979 
of risk of the organic agriculture production or processing operation and/or 980 
based on the risk category of the product/s or commodity/s.  981 
 982 
 983 
d) Sampling methods for organic soil amendments stipulated in the PNS for Organic 984 
Soil Amendments shall be followed by the OCBs.  985 
 986 
 987 
e) Officially accredited OCBs shall follow appropriate sampling methods based on 988 
international best practices and in their quality procedures for commodities not 989 
covered by the PNS for Organic Soil Amendments.  990 
 991 
 992 
f) Original laboratory results should be provided by the OCB together with the 993 
organic certificate to the concerned operator for their proper documentation.  994 
 995 
 996 
Testing  997 
 998 
a) Samples taken by the OCBs shall be analysed in testing laboratories qualified 999 
based on the Section A.7 (Laboratory selection criteria, and minimum parameters 1000  
for analysis)  of this Annex.  1001  
b) A copy of laboratory results shall be kept and maintained by the OCBs. OCBs shall 1002  
inform the operator of the respective results of the analysis.  1003  
 1004  
Review  1005  
          1006  
a) OCBs shall assign at least one person to review all information and results 1007  
related to the evaluation ( inspection, sampling, testing). The review shall be 1008  
carried out by person(s) who have not been involved in the evaluation process.  1009  
b) Recommendations for a certification decision based on the review shall be 1010  
documented, unless the review and the certification decision are completed 1011  
concurrently by the same person.  1012  
      1013  
Certification decision  1014  
 1015  
a) No orga nic certification shall be issued to produce/products under in -conversion 1016  
period.  1017  
 1018  
Certification  documentation  1019  
 1020   
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 a) OCBs shall ensure that issued certificate has the effectivity duration of  one year 1021  
from the date of issuance of the certificate. Certification effectivity should start 1022  
upon full compliance of all the requirements of certification.  1023  
 1024  
b) At the minimum, organic certificates issued by the OCBs should have the 1025  
following information:  1026  
 1027  
 1028  
⏤ Logo/seal of the concerned OCB;  1029  
⏤ Name and contact details of the OCB;  1030  
⏤ Unique certificate number;  1031  
⏤ Name of the establishment/farm;  1032  
⏤ Name of the Authorized representative of the establishment/farm;  1033  
⏤ Address of the establishment/farm;  1034  
⏤ Standards or certification scheme used and approved for certification;  1035  
⏤ Approved certification sc ope using the coding system found in Table A.1;  1036  
⏤ Approved product/s or commodity/s to be labeled or sold as organic 1037  
including brand name/s, identified by type or range, and approved 1038  
product ion volume or quantity. For organic rice, include as attachment to 1039  
the certificate the varieties of rice and/or its general description;  1040  
⏤ Number of units certified, e.g. processing unit, packaging unit and/or 1041  
storage unit, and the total area;  1042  
⏤ Name list of group members as well as their addresses and locations should 1043  
be inc luded as an attachment, in case of group certification  1044  
⏤ Official Accreditation Number of the OCB;  1045  
⏤ Organic Mark (See Annex F of this Department Circular);  1046  
⏤ Date of Issuance;  1047  
⏤ Date of Expiry; and  1048  
⏤ Name and signature of the authorized representative/s of the OCB . 1049  
Surveillance  1050  
 1051  
a) OCBs shall implement a system and documented procedures in conducting 1052  
operator risk -based surveillance activities including:  1053  
⏤ a full physical inspection is undertaken, at least once a year, of the organic 1054  
production, post -harvest, processing , handling, packaging and storage 1055  
unit/s.  1056   
REVISED GUIDELINES FOR THE OFFICIAL ACCREDITATION OF ORGANIC CERTIFYING BODIES (OCB)  
Draft as of 27 October  2017  Page 28 of 51 
 ⏤ additional occasional unannounced visits/inspections should also be 1057  
undertaken according to need or at random.  1058  
⏤ In the case of reports of frauds, mislabeling and other complaints, the OCB 1059  
should conduct necessary investigation including, but not limited to, 1060  
inspection and document review, depending on the nature of reported case.  1061  
A.6 Group certification  1062  
 1063  
a) Scope.  The OCB should limit the scope of group certification to groups that fulfill 1064  
the following requirements:  1065  
⏤ The group should be constituted of operations with similar production 1066  
systems;  1067  
NOTE This requirement does not limit the arrangement to farmers. 1068  
Other operations organized collectively may also be included 1069  
provided the other requirements in A.6 are met.  1070  
⏤ Large f arming units, simple processing units and traders may be included 1071  
as part of a group but should be inspected directly by the OCB.  1072  
⏤ Simple on -farm processing and storage units may be included as part of 1073  
sample inspection arrangement;  1074  
⏤ No group of processing units and traders can apply for group certification;  1075  
⏤ Group members should be in geographic proximity;  1076  
⏤ The group should be large enough and have sufficient resources to support 1077  
a viable internal control system (ICS) that assures compliance of individual 1078  
mem bers with production standards in an objective and transparent 1079  
manner;  1080  
NOTE The requirement refers to the three factors that the size of the 1081  
group should ensure sufficient resources, transparency, and 1082  
impartiality. The OCB must determine whether the group is large 1083  
enough to satisfy these factors.  1084  
⏤ The group should have coordinated marketing.  1085  
b) Requirements. Group certification should require that at least:  1086  
 1087  
⏤ The entity should be the group as a whole. This means that group members 1088  
cannot use the organic certific ation independently (i.e. marketing as 1089  
separate individual member outside of the group’s internal control).  1090  
⏤ An effective and documented internal control system (ICS) should be in 1091  
place and that there are competent personnel managing and implementing 1092  
the system. The system should include a documented management 1093  
structure of the ICS.  1094   
REVISED GUIDELINES FOR THE OFFICIAL ACCREDITATION OF ORGANIC CERTIFYING BODIES (OCB)  
Draft as of 27 October  2017  Page 29 of 51 
 ⏤ A general description of the operation with the definition of the type of 1095  
group (such as cooperative, association, exporter with producers under 1096  
contract).  1097  
⏤ Internal inspection protocol should be described and implemented. 1098  
Inspections of all group members for practices in accordance with Section 3 1099  
of this Guide should be carried out by the ICS at least annually.  1100  
⏤ Internal inspectors should be designated by the group to carry out i nternal 1101  
inspection. They should receive suitable training. The ICS should set out 1102  
rules to eliminate or minimize potential conflicts of interest of the internal 1103  
inspectors.  1104  
⏤ A clear description and identification of the production units and group 1105  
members sh ould be on file and available at all times.  1106  
⏤ A mechanism to include new members and to implement sanctions on non - 1107  
conforming group members should be in place.  1108  
⏤ The relationship of the management body to each of the group member, the 1109  
relationship between grou p members and conflict of interest should be 1110  
evaluated by the OCB prior to issuance of the certificate.  1111  
⏤ Risk assessments should be conducted.  1112  
NOTE Risk assessments should be done by both the OCB and the group.  1113  
⏤ The core documentation is complete, which incl udes:  1114  
- Appropriate Maps/sketches;  1115  
- A complete list of the group members and status of the members to the 1116  
ICS; 1117  
- Farm/field and/or processing records;  1118  
- Yield estimates; and  1119  
- Signed member agreements.  1120  
c) Contracts.  Group certification should require that the manageme nt body of the 1121  
group sign a written contract with the OCB specifying the responsibilities of the 1122  
group. The contract should require that the group management obtain signed 1123  
obligations from all group members to comply with the applicable PNS and other 1124  
regul atory requirements relevant to organic certification, and to allow 1125  
inspections.  1126  
d) Access to Standards.  All group members should have access to the applicable 1127  
PNS, and other regulatory requirements or the relevant sections of standards 1128  
and requirements presen ted in a way adapted to their language and knowledge.  1129  
e) External Inspection . The OCB should conduct external inspections as follows:  1130   
REVISED GUIDELINES FOR THE OFFICIAL ACCREDITATION OF ORGANIC CERTIFYING BODIES (OCB)  
Draft as of 27 October  2017  Page 30 of 51 
 ⏤ Inspection of the group should be carried out by the OCB at least annually . 1131  
⏤ The inspection visit should include both inspection for conformance with 1132  
the applicable PNS and other regulatory requirements relevant to organic 1133  
certification and an evaluation of the effectiveness of the ICS.  1134  
⏤ Inspection of a sample of group members should be undertaken by the OCB.  1135  
⏤ Determining t he risk classification of the group and sample number of 1136  
group members subject to external inspection should take into account the 1137  
following aspects:  1138  
- The number of operations in the group; and  1139  
- The outcome of the risk assessment of the management structure 1140  
(low, medium or high risk) which include, but are not limited to:  1141  
- The value of the produce/products and the difference between 1142  
the price of the organic and non -organic produce/product;  1143  
- Degree of similarity of the production systems and the crops 1144  
within the  group;  1145  
- Risks for commingling and/or contamination; and  1146  
- Experience of the group, (i.e. number of years in operation, 1147  
number of new members registered annually, nature of 1148  
problems within the organization, potential conflicts of interest 1149  
and staff turnover).  1150  
⏤ Determination of the number of group members subject to annual external 1151  
inspection for group certification should be calculated by taking the square 1152  
root of n, where n is the total number of group members or five (5), 1153  
whichever is higher.  1154  
⏤ The sample shoul d be selected based on a combination of risk -based and 1155  
random selection. The risk factors may include the number of years an 1156  
individual group member has been into organic production, post -harvest, 1157  
processing, handling, packaging and storage, their size, lo cation and/or 1158  
identified risk.  1159  
⏤ The production, post -harvest, processing, handling, packaging and storage 1160  
units visited by the external inspection body must be predominantly 1161  
different from one year to the other. Larger production units, processors, 1162  
and expo rters should be inspected annually by the OCB.  1163  
f) Evaluation and Assessment of ICS. The following should be applied in 1164  
evaluating the ICS:  1165  
⏤ Internal inspections of all group members should be carried out at least 1166  
annually; new group members are only included a fter internal inspections, 1167  
according to procedures agreed with the OCB;  1168   
REVISED GUIDELINES FOR THE OFFICIAL ACCREDITATION OF ORGANIC CERTIFYING BODIES (OCB)  
Draft as of 27 October  2017  Page 31 of 51 
 ⏤ Sample external inspections should be carried out with the relevant 1169  
documents from the internal inspection and the methods and results of the 1170  
internal inspection should be compared wit h the results of the external 1171  
inspection to determine whether the inspections of the ICS have adequately 1172  
addressed the compliance of group members;  1173  
⏤ Instances of noncompliance have been dealt appropriately by the ICS and 1174  
according to a documented system of sanctions;  1175  
⏤ Adequate records of inspections have been maintained by the ICS;  1176  
⏤ The group members understand the applicable PNS and other regulatory 1177  
requirements relevant to organic certification; and  1178  
⏤ The external inspector is encouraged to witness audit a number of internal 1179  
control inspectors.  1180  
g) Records.  The OCB shall maintain basic data on all group members, in addition to 1181  
certification records of the group as a whole. A standardized form containing the 1182  
basic data should be completed and updated by the group  management which 1183  
includes: Identification code, name, location (at least on an area map), year of 1184  
entrance into the certification system, date of last internal and external 1185  
inspection, number of hectares, certified crops, sales, and yield estimates.  1186  
h) Resp onsibility.  The group should be responsible for conformance of all group 1187  
members. The ICS should include the application of sanctions to individual group 1188  
members who do not conform with the applicable PNS and other regulatory 1189  
requirements relevant to organ ic certification. The group should inform the OCB 1190  
of the irregularities and noncompliances found, as well as the corrective actions 1191  
implemented.  1192  
i) Sanctions.  In the event of noncompliances by the group and/or its group 1193  
members, sanctions should be issued com mensurate with the severity of the 1194  
non-conformance. Failure of the ICS to detect and act on non -conformances 1195  
should invoke sanctions on the group as a whole. In cases where it finds the ICS 1196  
to lack reliability and effectiveness, the OCB should apply sancti ons to the group 1197  
as a whole, including, in case of serious deficiencies, the withdrawal of the 1198  
organic certification of the group.  1199  
 1200  
A.7 Laboratory selection criteria, and minimum parameters for analysis  1201  
 1202  
a) OCBs should primarily consider the following when selecting a laboratory for 1203  
testing and analysis of the samples taken from the operator or group:  1204  
 1205  
⏤ Laboratories should, first and foremost, hold current accreditation to 1206  
ISO/IEC 17025:2005, General requirements for the competence of testing 1207  
and calibration laboratories.  1208   
REVISED GUIDELINES FOR THE OFFICIAL ACCREDITATION OF ORGANIC CERTIFYING BODIES (OCB)  
Draft as of 27 October  2017  Page 32 of 51 
 ⏤ Laboratories should provide evidence that their analytical method is 1209  
appropriate for the submitted sample and that suitable validation data are 1210  
available.  1211  
b) Laboratories should be able to provide any of the testing services essential to 1212  
organic  agriculture including soil nutrient analysis, multi -pesticide residue 1213  
analysis, heavy metal analysis, microbiological analysis, and fertilizer analysis.  1214  
 1215  
c) For soil nutrient and fertilizer analysis, the following are the minimum 1216  
parameters that should appear in the laboratory results:  1217  
 1218  
 1219  
⏤ Total N, P 2O5, K2O (in % w/w, dry weight);  1220  
⏤ Organic matter content (in % w/w, dry weight);  1221  
⏤ Organic carbon (in % w/w, dry weight); and  1222  
⏤ Actual moisture content (in % w/v).  1223  
d) For heavy metals analysis, the following are the minimum parameters that 1224  
should appear in the laboratory results:  1225  
 1226  
⏤ Level of Arsenic (As) (in ppm, dry weight);  1227  
⏤ Level of Lead (Pb) (in ppm, dry weight);  1228  
⏤ Level of Chromium (Cr) (in ppm, dry weight);  1229  
⏤ Level of Mercury (Hg) (in ppm, dry weight); and  1230  
⏤ Level of Cad mium (Cd) ( in ppm, dry weight ). 1231  
e) For microbiological analysis, the following are the minimum parameters that 1232  
should appear in the laboratory results:  1233  
 1234  
⏤ Level of fecal Streptococci  (in cfu/g);  1235  
⏤ Level of total coliforms (in cfu/g); and  1236  
⏤ Level of Salmonella (in cfu/g ). 1237  
f) When there is no available laboratory due to absence of accreditation to ISO/IEC 1238  
17025:2005 for a certain laboratory test or due to the remote location of the 1239  
organic operator, the OCB should consider the DA laboratories such as the 1240  
National Pesticide Analytical Laboratories of BPI (BPI -NPAL), Laboratories of the 1241  
Bureau of Soils and Water Management (BSWM), Regional DA Integrated 1242  
Laboratories and Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Regional 1243  
Laboratories.  1244  
 1245  
A.8 Certification cost  1246  
 1247   
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Draft as of 27 October  2017  Page 33 of 51 
 a) OCBs shall  adhere to the general principles prescribed therein.  1248  
 1249  
b) Certification cost should only include the following:  1250  
 1251  
 1252  
⏤ application/administrative fees;  1253  
⏤ inspection fees (including professional fee per day, food, travelling 1254  
expenses, and accommodation, if necessary);  1255  
⏤ certification fees; and  1256  
⏤ laboratory analysis fees.  1257  
c) OCBs shall ensure fair and just collection of fees.  1258  
 1259  
d) OCBs shall provide the breakdown of expenses prior collecting fees with the 1260  
clients.  1261  
 1262  
 1263  
A.9 Publicly available information  1264  
 1265  
a) OCBs shall have proces ses for informing all concerned including the prospective 1266  
and present certified operators about the applicable PNS and other relevant 1267  
regulatory requirements to organic certification.  1268  
b) OCBs shall clearly identify the standards and requirements used for the different 1269  
product categories. These shall be available to the operator and publicly 1270  
accessible.  1271  
c) The detailed information regarding applicable PNS and other relevant regulatory 1272  
requirements against which the products will be certified and the certification 1273  
processes, as well as schedule of fees should be made available through 1274  
publications and/or electronic media.  1275  
  1276  
A.10 Reporting  1277  
 1278  
a) OCBs shall ensure timely reporting and submission of relevant documentations 1279  
including, but not limited to, list of certified operators, applicants for 1280  
certification, and list of decertified and suspended operators in consonance to 1281  
the Responsibilities of the Officially Accredited Organic Certifying Bodies.  1282  
 1283  
b) The list of certified operators shall contain at least the following inf ormation:  1284  
 1285  
 1286  
⏤ Name of the establishment, company or organization, whichever that 1287  
applies;  1288  
⏤ Type of certification (individual certification or group certification);  1289  
⏤ Name and designation of the authorized representative of the company or 1290  
organization;  1291   
REVISED GUIDELINES FOR THE OFFICIAL ACCREDITATION OF ORGANIC CERTIFYING BODIES (OCB)  
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 ⏤ Contact details of the operator (i.e. telephone numbers, mobile phone 1292  
number/s, active e -mail address);  1293  
⏤ Complete address of the office of the company or organization;  1294  
⏤ Complete address of the farm/production site or establishment;  1295  
⏤ Area of farm/production site or es tablishment (in hectare);  1296  
⏤ Approved scope of certification;  1297  
⏤ Organic certificate number;  1298  
⏤ List of product/s (including brand names, if any), or commodities covered 1299  
by the approved scope of certification;  1300  
⏤ List of approved grower group members (for group certif ication only);  1301  
⏤ Date of issuance of organic certificate;  1302  
⏤ Date of expiry of organic certificate;  1303  
⏤ Standards/Certification scheme used and approved for certification;  1304  
⏤ Date of inspection/s conducted;  1305  
⏤ Name of the assigned inspector/s;  1306  
⏤ Name of the assigned certification officer/s; and  1307  
⏤ Relevant findings during the last inspection (including noncompliances and 1308  
their correctives measures.  1309  
c) The list of applicants in process for certification shall contain at least the 1310  
following information:  1311  
 1312  
⏤ Name of the establish ment, company or organization, whichever that 1313  
applies;  1314  
⏤ Name and designation of the authorized representative of the company or 1315  
organization;  1316  
⏤ Contact details of the operator (i.e. telephone numbers, mobile phone 1317  
number/s, active e -mail address)  1318  
⏤ Complete add ress of the office of the company or organization;  1319  
⏤ Complete address of the farm/production site or establishment;  1320  
⏤ Area of farm/production site or establishment (in hectare);  1321  
⏤ Scope of certification being sought;  1322  
⏤ List of product/s (including brand names, if any), or commodities applied 1323  
for certification;  1324   
REVISED GUIDELINES FOR THE OFFICIAL ACCREDITATION OF ORGANIC CERTIFYING BODIES (OCB)  
Draft as of 27 October  2017  Page 35 of 51 
 ⏤ Schedule of inspection;  1325  
⏤ Name of the assigned inspector/s; and  1326  
⏤ Status of application for certification, if any.  1327  
d) The list of decertified or suspended operators shall contain information listed in 1328  
A.10 (Reportin g) Item b) and include the following information:  1329  
 1330  
⏤ Reason for decertification/suspension of certification; and  1331  
⏤ Duration of suspension, if applicable.  1332  
e) The DA -BAFS shall publish the list of certified organic operators of all of the 1333  
officially accredited OCBs  in its official website and updated regularly, limited 1334  
only to the following information:  1335  
 1336  
⏤ Name of the establishment, company or organization, whichever that 1337  
applies;  1338  
⏤ Type of certification (individual certification or group certification);  1339  
⏤ Complete addres s of the office of the company or organization;  1340  
⏤ Area of farm/production site or establishment (in hectare);  1341  
⏤ Approved scope of certification;  1342  
⏤ Organic certificate number;  1343  
⏤ List of product/s (including brand names, if any), or commodities covered 1344  
by the approv ed scope of certification;  1345  
⏤ Date of issuance of organic certificate;  1346  
⏤ Date of expiry of organic certificate; and  1347  
⏤ Name of officially accred ited Organic Certifying Body.     1348  
A.11 Use of Certificates and Marks of Conformity  1349  
a) OCBs shall exercise control over the use and display of certificates and logos that 1350  
it can authorize operators to use, including the official organic mark;   1351  
  1352  
b) OCBs shall be able to request an operator to discontinue use of certificates and 1353  
logos that it authorizes operator to use based on the pro visions of the 1354  
agreement;   1355  
c) OCBs shall apply suitable actions to deal with incorrect references to the 1356  
certification system or misleading use of certificates or logos that it authorizes 1357  
operators to use.          1358  
  1359  
A.12  Changes affecting certification  1360  
a) OCBs shall ensure that changes such as new or revised requirements that affect 1361  
the client are communicated to all clients. The OCBs shall verify the 1362   
REVISED GUIDELINES FOR THE OFFICIAL ACCREDITATION OF ORGANIC CERTIFYING BODIES (OCB)  
Draft as of 27 October  2017  Page 36 of 51 
 implementation of the changes by its clients and shall take actions required by 1363  
the relevant PNS and other regulatory requirements.     1364  
  1365  
b) OCBs shall consider other changes affecting organic certification, including 1366  
changes initiated by the certified client, and shall decide upon the appropriate 1367  
action.  1368  
 1369  
NOTE Changes affecting certification can include new inform ation related to the 1370  
fulfilment of certification requirements obtained by the OCB after certification has 1371  
been established.  1372  
 1373  
c) The actions to implement changes affecting certification  shall include, if 1374  
required, the following:  1375  
⏤ evaluation  1376  
⏤ review  1377  
⏤ decision  1378  
⏤ issuance of revised organic certificate to extend or reduce the scope of 1379  
certification; and  1380  
⏤ issuance of certification documentation of r evised surveillance activities   1381  
  1382   
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 A.13 Termination, reduction, suspension or withdrawal of certification  1383  
 1384  
a) When a noncompliance with certification requirements is substantiated, either 1385  
as a result of surveillance or otherwise, the OCB shall consider and decide upon 1386  
the appropriate action.  1387  
 1388  
NOTE Appropriate action can include any of the following:  1389  
- continuation of certification under conditions specified by the OCBs (e.g 1390  
increased surveillance),  1391  
- reduction in scope of certification to remove noncompliant product 1392  
variants,  1393  
- suspension of the certification pending remedial actions by the certified 1394  
client,  1395  
- withdrawa l of the certification.  1396  
        1397  
b) When the appropriate action includes evaluation, review or a certification 1398  
decision, the requirements in A.5 (Process Requirements) , specifically inspection, 1399  
sampling, testing, review, certification decision, respectively, sh all be fulfilled.  1400  
  1401  
c) If certification is terminated (by request of the client), suspended or withdrawn, 1402  
the OCB shall take actions specified in A.12 and shall make all necessary 1403  
modifications to formal certification documents, public information, 1404  
authorizati ons for use of marks, etc., in order to ensure it provides no indication 1405  
that the product continues to be certified. If a scope of certification is reduced, 1406  
the OCB shall take actions specified by this Annex and shall make all necessary 1407  
modifications to fo rmal certification documents, public information, 1408  
authorizations for use of marks, etc., in order to ensure the reduced scope of 1409  
certification is clearly communicated to the client and clearly specified in 1410  
certification documentation and public information . 1411  
 1412  
 1413  
d) If certification is suspended, the OCB shall assign one or more persons to 1414  
formulate and communicate the following to the client:     1415  
   1416  
 1417  
⏤ actions needed to end suspension and restore certification for the 1418  
product(s) in accordance with the certification scheme;  1419  
⏤ any other actions required by the certification scheme.  1420  
e) These persons shall be competent in their knowledge and understanding of all 1421  
aspects of the handling of suspended certifications.      1422  
   1423  
f) Any evaluations, reviews or decisions needed to resolv e the suspension, or that 1424  
are required by the certification scheme, shall be completed in accordance with 1425  
the applicable parts of A.5 (Process Requirements) , specifically inspection, 1426  
sampling, testing, review, certification decision, certification document ation ©, 1427   
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 surveillance, and A.13 (Termination, reduction, suspension or withdrawal of 1428  
certification) ©, respectively, shall be fulfilled.      1429  
g) If certification is reinstated after suspension, the OCB shall make all necessary 1430  
modifications to formal certifica tion documents, public information, 1431  
authorizations for use of marks, etc., in order to ensure all appropriate 1432  
indications exist that the product continues to be certified.    1433  
  1434  
h) If a decision to reduce the scope of certification is made as a condition of 1435  
reinstatement, the OCB shall make all necessary modifications to formal 1436  
certification documents, public information, authorizations for use of marks, etc., 1437  
in order to ensure the reduced scope of certification is clearly communicated to 1438  
the client and clearly  specified in certification documentation and public 1439  
information.   1440  
 1441  
A.14  Records           1442  
  1443  
a) OCBs shall maintain records to demonstrate the certification procedures on 1444  
organic production, handling, storage, processing, and packaging have been 1445  
effectively imple mented. Such records should include but not limited to:  1446  
  1447  
⏤ Full description of the production, handling, storage, processing, and 1448  
packaging units  1449  
⏤ It should also maintain information about individual members of a group as 1450  
well as the certified organic unit’s  subcontractors, if any.  1451  
A.15 Complaints and appeals  1452  
 1453  
a) OCBs shall have document process to receive, evaluate and make decisions on 1454  
complaints and appeals. OCBs shall record and track complaints and appeals, as 1455  
well as actions undertaken to resolve them.      1456  
  1457  
b) To ensure that there is no conflict of interest, personnel (including those acting 1458  
in a managerial capacity) who have provided consultancy for a client, or been 1459  
employed by a client, shall not be used by the OCB to review or approve the 1460  
resolution of a compl aint or appeal for that client within two (2) years following 1461  
the end of the consultancy or employment.      1462  
   1463  
c) Whenever possible, OCBs shall give formal notice of the outcome and the end of 1464  
the complaint process to the complainant.       1465  
  1466  
d) OCBs shall give formal notice of the outcome and the end of the appeal process to 1467  
the appellant.           1468  
  1469  
e) OCBS shall take any subsequent action needed to resolve the complaint or 1470  
appeal.  1471  
 1472  
A.16 Non -conforming products         1473  
  1474   
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Draft as of 27 October  2017  Page 39 of 51 
 a) OCBs shall define procedure when a produce/produc t no longer fulfils 1475  
certification requirements, such as product recall and/or providing information 1476  
to the market.           1477  
  1478  
A.17 Fraudulent Claim of Certification  1479  
 1480  
a) Sanctions and penalties for fraudulent claims of certification including misuse of 1481  
certificatio n marks and mislabeling should be enforced in accordance with the 1482  
rules and regulations of the AMS.  1483  
 1484  
A.18 Management system requirements  1485  
 1486  
a) OCBs shall establish and maintain a management system that is capable of 1487  
achieving the consistent fulfilment of this certification scheme.    1488  
  1489  
b) The management system of the OCBs shall address the following:  1490  
⏤ general management system documentation (e.g. manual, policies, 1491  
definition of responsibilities);  1492  
⏤ control of documents;  1493  
⏤ control of records;  1494  
⏤ management review;  1495  
⏤ internal audit;  1496  
⏤ corrective actions; and  1497  
⏤ preventive actions.  1498  
NOTE For the details of the above requirements (b), please refer to ISO/IEC 1499  
17065:2012 (Option A) 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5, 8.6, 8.7 and 8.8.  1500  
 1501  
 1502  
 1503  
 1504  
 1505  
 1506  
  1507   
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Draft as of 27 October  2017  Page 40 of 51 
 Annex B  1508  
(informative)  1509  
 1510  
Step -by-step official accreditation procedure  1511  
 1512  
The step -by-step procedure for official accreditation including the detailed description 1513  
of requirements and issuances is indicated in Table B.1.  1514  
 1515  
Table B.1 – Detailed official accreditation procedure with pertinent issuances and 1516  
timeline  1517  
Step  Procedure  Requirement  BAFS Issuance  Remarks  Timeline  
Initial/Renewal Application Procedure  
1 Submission of 
Requirements  Two (2) copies of the 
following:  
1.1  Duly 
accomplished 
application form;  
1.2 Updated 
organizational 
profile;  
1.3 Certified True 
Copy of 
Certificate of 
Registration 
from the Security 
and Exchange 
Commission 
(SEC) with the 
Articles of 
Incorporation 
and by -laws;  
1.4 Copy of an 
updated General 
Information 
Sheet (GIS) by 
the SEC;  
1.5  Copy of the 
ISO/IEC 17065 
Accreditation, if 
applicable;  
1.6 Copy of upda ted 
Quality Manual, 
procedures and 
checklist on 
Organic 
Agriculture 
based on 
applicable PNS 
relevant to 
organic Acknowledgement 
Receipt / 
Notification of 
Incomplete 
Submission of 
Requirements  
 
  Receiving of 
requirements will 
be processed 
within four (4) 
working hours  
upon receipt of 
complete 
requirements.   
REVISED GUIDELINES FOR THE OFFICIAL ACCREDITATION OF ORGANIC CERTIFYING BODIES (OCB)  
Draft as of 27 October  2017  Page 41 of 51 
 agriculture;  
1.7 List of Inspectors 
with their 
approved 
scope/s;  
1.8 List of certified 
organic 
operators 
compliant with 
the PNS for 
organic 
agriculture,  if 
applicable; and  
1.9 List of certified 
organic 
operators 
compliant with 
other organic 
standards, if 
applicable.  
2 Application 
Review  
(Table review)  Submitted 
requirements  Notice to proceed 
with Office Audit   Two (2) working 
days upon receipt 
of the 
requirements  
3 Assessments      
3.1 Office Audit  Physical office and 
management 
personnel for 
interview  
 
 
 
 
List of Inspections for 
the next two (2) 
months (may be 
submitted during the 
office audit proper)  Office Audit Report  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Notice of Witness 
Audit, and Pre -
Witness Audit 
Form1 
 
1If List of Inspections 
is submitted during 
office audit proper  A designated 
NCOA -OCB 
member and the 
BAFS 
Accreditation 
Section shall 
conduct this to 
verify the 
implementation of 
the quality 
manual, 
procedures and 
other documents 
submitted in their 
place of operation.  Five (5) wor king 
days after office 
audit  
Office audit will be 
conducted within 
fifteen (15) 
working days upon 
receipt of the 
Notice to Proceed 
with Office Audit 
by the applicant  
 
 
3.2 Preparation 
for Witness 
Audit  Duly accomplished 
Pre-Witness Audit 
Form  
 
Documents of the 
approved organic 
operators:  
 Inspection Plan  
 Farm Layout Witness Audit Plan   Five (5) working 
days  upon receipt 
of the listed 
requi rements   
REVISED GUIDELINES FOR THE OFFICIAL ACCREDITATION OF ORGANIC CERTIFYING BODIES (OCB)  
Draft as of 27 October  2017  Page 42 of 51 
 (Map)  
 Copy of Organic 
Management Plan  
 If applicable, last 
inspection report  
 If applicable, last 
certification 
decision  
3.3 Witness Audit 
for each scope 
applied for 
official 
accreditation  Conduct of 
Inspection/s  Witness Audit 
Report  
 
Noncompliance List, 
if applicable  In case of 
noncompliance/s, 
the OCB should 
implement 
corrective 
measures within 
the given 
timeframe  and 
proceed to Step 
3.4, otherwise 
proceed to Step 4.  Witness audit 
report or 
Noncompliance 
List will be issued 
within five (5) 
working days  
after the conduct 
of the Witness 
Audit  
3.4 Corrective 
Measures  Noncompliance List 
with the following 
columns filled up:  
(1) Proposed 
Corrective Actions, and  
(2) Root Cause 
Analysis  
 
Objective evidences of 
Implementation  Noncompliance 
List with the 
following columns 
filled up:  
(1) Comments from 
Assessors,  
(2) Verif ication of 
elimination of 
noncompliance, 
and  
(3) Corrective 
Action 
Implemented and 
accepted  
 
Notification on 
Follow -up Audit, if 
deemed necessary   Five (5) working 
days  upon receipt 
of the 
Noncompliance 
List 
 
5 Evaluation of 
Assessment 
Report and 
Approval  -none - NCOA -OCB 
Resolution  
  Five (5) working 
days  
6 Issuance of 
Official 
Accreditation 
Certificate  -none - Official 
Accreditation 
Certificate, and  
Terms and 
Conditions   Five (5) working 
days  after 
adoption of the 
NCOA -OCB 
Resolution  
 1518  
 1519  
 1520   
REVISED GUIDELINES FOR THE OFFICIAL ACCREDITATION OF ORGANIC CERTIFYING BODIES (OCB)  
Draft as of 27 October  2017  Page 43 of 51 
 Surveillance  
1 Preparation 
for 
Surveillance  Duly accomplished 
Pre-Witness Audit 
Form  
 
Documents of the 
approved organic 
operators:  
● Inspection Plan  
● Farm Layout 
(Map)  
● Copy of Organic 
Management Plan  
● If applicable, last 
inspection report  
● If applicable, last 
certification 
decision  Witness Audit Plan   Five (5) working 
days  upon receipt 
of the listed 
requirements  
2 Conduct of 
Surveillance 
for each 
approved 
scope  Conduct of 
Inspection/s  Witness Audit 
Report  
 
Noncompliance List, 
if applicable  In case of 
noncompliance/s, 
the OCB should 
implement 
corrective 
measures within 
the given 
timeframe and 
proceed to Step 3, 
otherwise 
proceed to Step 4.  Witness audit 
report or 
Noncompliance 
List will be issued 
within five (5) 
working days  
after the conduct 
of the Wit ness 
Audit  
3 Corrective 
Measures  Noncompliance List 
with the following 
columns filled up:  
(1) Proposed 
Corrective Actions, and  
(2) Root Cause 
Analysis  
 
Objective evidences of 
Implementation  Noncompliance 
List with the 
following columns 
filled up:  
(1) Comments from 
Assessors,  
(2) Verification of 
elimination of 
noncompliance, 
and  
(3) Corrective 
Action 
Implemented and 
accepted  
 
Notification on 
reassessment, if 
deemed necessary   Five (5) working 
days  upon receipt 
of the 
Noncompliance 
List 
 
4 Preparation of 
Surveillance 
Report  -none - Surveillance Report  
  Issued five (5) 
working days  
upon approval of 
the BAFS Director   
REVISED GUIDELINES FOR THE OFFICIAL ACCREDITATION OF ORGANIC CERTIFYING BODIES (OCB)  
Draft as of 27 October  2017  Page 44 of 51 
 Annex C  1521  
(normative)  1522  
 1523  
Grounds for penalties of non -conformances  1524  
 1525  
The grounds for penalties of non -conformances are found in Table D.1.  1526  
 1527  
Table D.1 - Violations/noncompliances and its grounds for penalties  1528  
 1529  
 Minor Issues - 
Conditions for 
New or Continued 
Official 
Accreditation  Notice of 
Noncompliance  Major Noncompliances  - 
Denial or Proposed 
Suspension or Revocation of 
Official Accreditation  
VIOLATION  
 Noncompliant 
practices that 
indicate no 
systemic failure1 in 
the quality manual 
or implementation 
and can be easily 
corrected without 
the need for a 
corrective action 
plan.  
 
 
Example:  
Failure to submit 
necessary 
documents 
requested by BAFS 
within the given 
period of time.  Noncompliant practice/s 
that indicate no  systemic 
failure in the quality 
manual or 
implementation of 
certification but are 
significant enough in 
nature or in scope to 
require a corrective 
action plan to ensure 
and verify compliance.  
 
Example:  
Failure to observe DA -
BAFS rules on the use of 
the “Organic” mark.  
 
 
 
 Systemic failure of the 
quality manual or 
implementation that 
demonstrates inability to 
comply with the regulations.  
Failure to resolve, 
successfully or within a 
prescribed time period, a 
previously issued 
noncompliance.  
Unjustified refusal of the 
officially accredited OCB to 
allow the assessment team 
to access the premises, 
facilities, records and 
personnel, as may be 
necessary, for the conduct of 
surveillance.  
Minor 
inconsistencies or 
omissions in 
records that 
indicate no 
systemic failure in 
the quality manual 
or implementation 
and can be easily Inconsistencies and/or 
omissions in records 
that indicate  no systemic 
failure in the quality 
manual or 
implementation of 
certification but are 
significant enough in 
nature or in scope to Deliberate violation of the 
regulations of the official 
accreditation, including but 
not limited to:  
 
Engagement in organic 
agriculture production 
during the lifetime of the 
official accreditation 
                                                
1 A “systemic failure” would be one or more violations that show an operation is unable to comply with 
the BAFS regulations   
REVISED GUIDELINES FOR THE OFFICIAL ACCREDITATION OF ORGANIC CERTIFYING BODIES (OCB)  
Draft as of 27 October  2017  Page 45 of 51 
 corrected without 
the need for a 
corrective action 
plan.  
 
 
 
 require a corrective 
action plan to ensure 
and verify compliance.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 authority as OCB;  
 
Deviation of operations 
from the approved 
Operating Manual of 
Certif ication Procedures 
(including deviations from 
the declared technical and 
geographical scope of 
operation); and  
 
Provision of  any kind of 
consultancy services to 
certification applicants.  
Violation of the non -
transferability condition of 
the Official Accreditation 
Certificate.  
Falsification or concealment 
of records  
Recommendation for denial 
of application if the following 
cases are encountered:  
 
Fraudulent 
misrepresentation in the 
application for official 
accreditation.  
 
Competence is not 
established.  
 
Major noncompliance 
was not addressed by the 
applicant.  
 
Presence of a significant 
number of minor 
noncompliances that will 
prove that the 
management system of 
the applicant is still 
inadequate.  
  
REVISED GUIDELINES FOR THE OFFICIAL ACCREDITATION OF ORGANIC CERTIFYING BODIES (OCB)  
Draft as of 27 October  2017  Page 46 of 51 
 The applicant is convicted 
of any crime or violation 
of any law, decree, 
ordinance or regulation 
by any court or tribunal.  
 
In the event where the 
applicant was able to 
comply with the 
noncompliances but 
beyond the given period 
of time.  
Failure to report to BAFS any 
change cited in Annex E (c) 
within the allowed timeline 
shall be basis for the 
revocation of official 
accreditation.  
 1530  
References:  1531  
 1532  
Department of Agriculture. 2013. Administrative Order No. 13, Series of 2013: 1533  
Revision to Administrative Order No. 07, Series of 2011 Re Amendments 1534  
to Administrative Order No. 13, Series of 2003, on the Guidelines in the 1535  
Accreditation of Certifying Bodies (CBs) for Organic Agriculture.  Quezon 1536  
City, Philippines, 9pp.  1537  
 1538  
National Organic Program (NOP, USDA). 2015. Instruction: Enforcement of the USDA 1539  
Organic  Regulations Penalty Matrix . Washington, DC, 7pp.  1540  
 1541  
Philippine Accreditation Bureau. 2011. Quality Procedure - Management System 1542  
Accreditation - The Accreditation Process. Makati, Philippines. 17pp.  1543  
 1544  
 1545  
 1546  
 1547  
 1548  
 1549  
 1550  
 1551  
 1552  
 1553  
 1554  
 1555  
 1556  
 1557  
 1558   
REVISED GUIDELINES FOR THE OFFICIAL ACCREDITATION OF ORGANIC CERTIFYING BODIES (OCB)  
Draft as of 27 October  2017  Page 47 of 51 
 Annex D  1559  
(normative)  1560  
 1561  
Responsibilities of Organic Certifying Bodies (OCB)  1562  
 1563  
Officially accredited OCB are responsible for:  1564  
 1565  
a) At the minimum, applying the following protocols in their operations, to wit:  1566  
⏤ Develop or update, and implement the organic certification program in 1567  
accordance with the organic certification scheme (see Annex A ); 1568  
⏤ Ensure certified clients comply with all requirements of the applicable PNS 1569  
and relevant reg ulatory requirements;  1570  
⏤ Conduct certification and inspection activities (e.g. annual on -site 1571  
inspections) of approved scope/s based on the organic certification 1572  
program;  1573  
⏤ Hear and address appeals of the clients; and  1574  
⏤ Submit their organization to inspection and monitoring activities of the 1575  
BAFS (including observer/s) and the NCOA -OCB.  This shall include the 1576  
annual surveillance through witness audits of the BAFS.  1577  
b)  Issuance of relevant documents/notifications:  1578  
⏤ notices of non -compliance, suspension or revoking the certification of 1579  
clients that do not comply with the applicable rules and relevant PNS for 1580  
organic agriculture  1581  
⏤ certification decisions, including corrective actions and certificates in 1582  
compliance with the PNS related to organic agriculture and these 1583  
guidelines.  1584  
⏤ certificate to certified organic operators that is valid only  for one (1) year.  1585  
c) Reporting of any of the following to the BAFS not later than twenty (20) 1586  
working days after any change/s : 1587  
⏤ Documentations specified in the organic certification schem e (See Item 1588  
A.10, Annex A ); 1589  
⏤ Adverse actions against organic operators, including notices of 1590  
noncompliance, proposed suspension, proposed revocation, suspension, or 1591  
denial of certification;  1592  
⏤ Annual and/or other periodic reports of the activities undertaken.  1593  
d) Engage the analytical testing services only to ISO/IEC 17025:2005 accredited 1594  
laboratories, and/or DA officially recognized laboratories (See Item A.7 of Annex 1595  
A). 1596  
 1597   
REVISED GUIDELINES FOR THE OFFICIAL ACCREDITATION OF ORGANIC CERTIFYING BODIES (OCB)  
Draft as of 27 October  2017  Page 48 of 51 
 e) Follow recommended sampling proc edures for analytical testing based on 1598  
internationally recognized standards (e.g. Codex) (See Item A.5 -Sampling of 1599  
Annex A ). 1600  
 1601  
 1602  
 1603  
 1604  
 1605  
 1606  
 1607  
 1608  
 1609  
 1610  
 1611  
 1612  
 1613  
 1614  
 1615  
 1616  
 1617  
 1618  
 1619  
 1620  
 1621  
 1622  
 1623  
 1624  
 1625  
 1626  
 1627  
 1628  
 1629  
 1630  
 1631  
 1632  
 1633  
 1634  
 1635  
 1636  
 1637  
 1638  
 1639  
 1640  
 1641  
 1642  
 1643  
 1644  
 1645   
REVISED GUIDELINES FOR THE OFFICIAL ACCREDITATION OF ORGANIC CERTIFYING BODIES (OCB)  
Draft as of 27 October  2017  Page 49 of 51 
 Annex E  1646  
(informative)  1647  
  1648  
Guideline for the use of ‘Organic’ mark  1649  
 1650  
E.1 Basic design elements and colors  1651  
 1652  
a) Figure F.1  shows the basic design elements of the certification mark is the 1653  
National Organic Agriculture Program Logo capped with the Sun and the 1654  
three Stars with the text “ Organic PHILIPPINE DEPARTMENT OF 1655  
AGRICULTURE” and with the Official Accreditation Number situated at 1656  
the bottom of the mark. Only official artwork versions of the mark should 1657  
be used. There are three allowable designs of the mark with respect to the 1658  
color as shown  in Figure F.2 . 1659  
 1660  
 1661  
Figure F.1. The Official ‘Organic’ Mark.  1662  
 1663  
 1664  
Figure F.2. Three allowed design of the  ‘Organic ’ Mark . 1665  
 1666  
E.2 Basic rules  1667  
 1668  
a) The Officially Accredited OCB should only use the official artwork of the 1669  
‘Organic’ Mark for management systems that corresponds with the scope to 1670  
which the OCB is officially accredited.  1671  
 
REVISED GUIDELINES FOR THE OFFICIAL ACCREDITATION OF ORGANIC CERTIFYING BODIES (OCB)  
Draft as of 27 October  2017  Page 50 of 51 
 b) Always use the ‘Organic’ Mark with the Official Accreditation Number in 1672  
conjunction with OCB’s logo.  1673  
 1674  
c) You may use the ‘Organic’ Mark on:  1675  
 1676  
⏤ Certified Products, including primary packaging or adhesive tape  1677  
⏤ Product documentation (e.g. technical specifications and catalogue 1678  
pages)  1679  
d) To avoid misinterpretation, the ‘Organic’ Mark is therefore not allowed to be 1680  
used on:  1681  
 1682  
⏤ Certificates (except organic certificate), statements of conformity, 1683  
reports  etc. as an output from services provided (e.g. testing and 1684  
calibration activities, inspections, assessments etc.)  1685  
⏤ Marketing material of the OCB  1686  
⏤ Corporate publications (e.g. annual reports)  1687  
⏤ Business Cards of any of the personnel of the OCB and clients  1688  
⏤ Webs ites 1689  
⏤ Tarpaulins  1690  
⏤ Stands, buildings and signs  1691  
⏤ Stationary: letterheads, envelopes, invoices and fax sheets  1692  
⏤ Vehicles  1693  
e) In addition, the Mark should not be used on letterheads.  1694  
 1695  
f) If in doubt regarding use of marks, you should contact the BAFS.  1696  
 1697  
E.3 Mark misuse  1698  
 1699  
a) The original artwork of the ‘Organic’ Mark should be used in a way that 1700  
preserves the integrity of the mark. Therefore, the mark should not be 1701  
altered or used in an improper way.  1702  
 1703  
b) Do not modify the color.  1704  
 1705  
c) Do not distort any part of the mark.  1706  
 1707  
d) Do not alter the  relative size of any element of the mark.  1708  
 1709  
e) Do not position the mark on a visually distracting background or on 1710  
pictures.  1711   
REVISED GUIDELINES FOR THE OFFICIAL ACCREDITATION OF ORGANIC CERTIFYING BODIES (OCB)  
Draft as of 27 October  2017  Page 51 of 51 
  1712  
f) Do not separate and modify any elements of the mark.  1713  
 1714  
g) Do not place the seal inside any kind of box or other shape that may 1715  
mistakenly  be considered part of the mark.  1716  
 1717  
h) Do not print at less than 100 percent ink density (opacity).  1718  
 1719  
i) Do not use the seal as a decorative element – for example, repeating it or 1720  
portions of it like a wallpaper pattern.  1721  
 1722  
j) Do not modify the font of the inscription.  1723  
 1724  
k) Do not modify the color of the inscription.  1725  
 1726  
l) Do not separate and modify any elements of the inscription.  1727  
 1728  
m) Any uses not addressed in this guide are considered unacceptable unless 1729  
approved by the BAFS.  1730  
 1731  
E.4 Distance and size of the mark  1732  
 1733  
a) The certification mark may be enlarged or reduced maintaining its height - 1734  
width proportion.  1735  
 1736  
b) The size of the certification mark should be in proportion to the size of the 1737  
OCB’s logo.  1738  
 1739  
c) The minimum reduced size is 20 mm (in height). This is the minimum size at 1740  
which numbers and let ters are legible.  1741  
 1742  
d) The certification mark may be used in such a way that:  1743  
 1744  
⏤ It is the same height as the OCB logo.  1745  
⏤ The space between the mark and the OCB logo is the same height as the 1746  
mark.  1747  
⏤ Even when the OCB logo is very small, the certification mark must be at 1748  
least 20 mm high.  1749  
⏤ The maximum size of the mark should be such that it does not 1750  
predominate over the size of the OCB logo. It is recommended that the 1751  
size of the certification mark should not exceed one -third or one -half 1752  
the height of the surface to w hich it is affixed.  1753