G/TBT/N/USA/1637  
10 August 2020  
(20-5471) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original:  English  
 
  NOTIFICATION  
The following notification is being circulated in accordance with Article 10.6  
 
1. Notifying Member:  UNITED STATES OF AMERICA   
If applicable, name of local government involved (Article 3.2 and 7.2):   
2. Agency responsible:  Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), Department of Agriculture 
(USDA) [1665]  
Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers , email and website 
addresses, if available) of agency or authority designated to handle comments 
regarding the notification shall be indicated if different from above:   
Please submit comments to: USA WTO TBT Enquiry Point, Email: usatbtep@nist.gov  
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [   ], 2.10.1 [   ], 5.6.2 [   ], 5.7.1 [   ], other  [X]:  
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff 
heading. ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable):  Organic 
products; Farming and forestry (ICS 65.020), Processes in the food industry (ICS 67.020), 
Food products in general (ICS 67.040)  
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:  National Organic 
Program; Strengthening Organic En forcement (57 page(s), in English)  
6. Description of content:  Proposed rule - The United States Department of Agriculture 
(USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) proposes amending the USDA organic 
regulations to strengthen oversight and enforcement of  the production, handling, and sale 
of organic agricultural products. The proposed amendments are intended to protect 
integrity in the organic supply chain and build consumer and industry trust in the USDA 
organic label by strengthening organic control sys tems, improving farm to market 
traceability, and providing robust enforcement of the USDA organic regulations. Topics 
addressed in this proposed rule include: Applicability of the regulations and exemptions 
from organic certification; National Organic Prog ram Import Certificates; recordkeeping 
and product traceability; certifying agent personnel qualifications and training; 
standardized certificates of organic operation; unannounced on -site inspections of certified 
operations; oversight of certification act ivities; foreign conformity assessment systems; 
certification of grower group operations; labeling of nonretail containers; annual update 
requirements for certified operations; compliance and appeals processes; and calculating 
organic content of multi -ingredient products.  
7. Objective and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems where 
applicable:  Consumer information, labelling; Prevention of deceptive practices and 
consumer protection; Quality requirements  G/TBT/N/USA/1637  
 
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  8. Relevant documents:   
• 85 Federal Register (FR) 47536, 5 August 2020; Title 7 Code of Federal Regulations 
(CFR) Part 205:  
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR -2020-08-05/html/2020 -14581.htm  
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR -2020-08-05/pdf/2020 -14581.pdf  
This proposed rule is identified by Docket Number AMS -NOP-17-0065. The Docket Folder is 
available on Regulations.gov  at https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=AMS -NOP-17-
0065, and provides access to primary and supporting documents as well as comments 
received. Documents are also accessible from Regulations.gov  by searc hing the Docket 
Number. WTO Members and their stakeholders are asked to submit comments to the USA 
TBT Enquiry Point . Comments received by the USA TBT Enquiry Point from WTO Members 
and their stakeholder s will be shared with the regulator and will also be submitted to the 
Docket  on Regulations.gov  if received within the comment period.  
https://www.regulations.gov/docket?D=AMS -NOP-17-0065 
9. Proposed date of adoption:  To be determined  
Proposed date of entry into force:  To be determined  
10. Final date for comments:  5 October 2020  
11. Texts available from:  National enquiry point [ ] or address, telephone and fax 
numbers and email and website addresses, if available , of other body:   
https://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2020/TBT/USA/20_4777_00_e.pdf