1400 Independence Avenue, SW. 

Room 2648-S, STOP 0268 

Washington, DC 20250-0268 

NOTICE OF SUSPENSION OF ACCREDITATION 

June 11, 2020 

Emilie Fournier 

Certisys 

Avenue de l’Escrime, 85 

Schermlaan Brussels B- 1150 

BELGIUM 

Dear Ms. Fournier: 

Pursuant to the regulations at 7 CFR § 205.665(e), the United States Department of Agriculture 

(USDA), Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), National Organic Program (NOP) issues this 

Notice of Suspension of Accreditation to Certisys (CSYS). 

On May 14, 2020, the USDA-AMS Administrator issued a decision denying CSYS’ appeal of 

the Notice of Noncompliance and Proposed Suspension of Accreditation issued by NOP on 

November 19, 2019. The decision provided 30 days for CSYS to request a hearing before an 

Administrative Law Judge. On June 10, 2020, CSYS returned a waiver of hearing form to the 

NOP. Therefore, the Administrator’s decision is final, and the NOP is suspending CSYS’ USDA 

accreditation. 

Certisys’ USDA accreditation is suspended from June 13, 2020 through June 13, 2021. 

Beginning on June 13, 2020, CSYS must cease all USDA organic certification activities. 

CSYS must immediately notify its certified operations and applicants for certification of the 

following: 

1. CSYS will no longer provide USDA organic certification services as of June 13, 

2020. 

2. Operations listed as certified by CSYS in the Organic Integrity Database will appear as 

“[---] Transitioning to New Certifier”. 

3. All operations certified by CSYS must inform the NOP (AIAInbox@usda.gov) within 

60 days of the notification date, whether they have applied with a new certifier or are 

surrendering their certification. Operations applying for certification with another 

certifier must also provide the name of the certifier and the date of application. 

4. If an operation does not inform the NOP within 60 days of the notification date that 

it has applied for certification with another certifier or is surrendering certification, the 

NOP will issue the operation a notice of noncompliance, which may lead to the suspension of 

the operation’s certification. 

5. Operations applying for certification with another certifier must inform the NOP 

(AIAInbox@usda.gov) once they have received their new organic certificate. 
1400 Independence Avenue, SW. 

Room 2648-S, STOP 0268 

Washington, DC 20250-0268 

6. Operations that have applied for certification with another certifier may use their existing 

inventory of labels approved by CSYS identifying CSYS as the certifying agent if the 

use-up is approved by the new certifier according to the NOP’s instructions for label useup approval. 

Additionally, please submit to the NOP (AIAInbox@usda.gov) the following by June 17, 2020: 

1. A copy of the notification sent to applicants and certified operations as outlined above. 

2. A current list of new applicants for certification, if applicable. 

3. A current list of certified operations, including operation name, physical and mailing 

address, email address, phone number, and name of primary contact person. 

4. The date of the most recent annual inspection for each certified operation and the date of 

the initial inspection, if applicable, for each applicant. 

Please be advised that CSYS may seek reinstatement of its accreditation after the suspension 

period by submitting a request to the Secretary for reinstatement of its accreditation. The 

request must be accompanied by evidence demonstrating correction of each noncompliance and 

corrective actions taken to comply with and remain in compliance with the Organic Food 

Productions Act and the USDA organic regulations (7 CFR Part 205). 

If you have any questions regarding this notice, please contact Graham Davis, Accreditation 

Manager, at Graham.Davis@usda.gov or (202) 692-0047. 

Sincerely, 

Digitally signed by JENNIFER 

Date: 2020.06.11 18:05:43 -04'00' 

TUCKER 

Jennifer Tucker, Ph. D. 

Deputy Administrator 

National Organic Program