This document is intended to give interested persons or companies an overview of the standards on Organic Agriculture according to PNS 07:2016; standards on Organic Soil Amendments according to PNS 183:2016; and standards on Biological Control Agents according to PNS 182:2016. This document also gives the additional certification requirements of OCCP to all clients with Organic Agricultural Input operations
Manufacturers of organic inputs for commercial production needs to be certified
This standard is focused on the completion of the documentary requirements:
Operators who need a confirmation that their product(s) is allowed for use by organic operations can still apply to OCCP, when the inputs are indicated in the list of allowed and restricted inputs to be used in organic production but are not covered by specific product standards (i.e. mined products- sulfur, rock phosphate, etc.). These are manufacturers for commercial production and/or intend to market their products to organic operations.
OCCP Certification Requirements:
Knowledge of the organic standards by all persons handling the organic product is critical in compliance with the standards. Lack of awareness on the requirements will have a higher risk that non-compliances will occur.
A complete audit trail is needed to prevent unintentional or fraudulent mixing of products and to verify that the manufacturer has a system to track organic product until it is sold. The audit trail system should be complete enough to trace any product suspected of contamination from point of origin to the customer. Manufacturers must periodically demonstrate that production and sales of organic inputs match the purchase of raw materials.
Manufacturers must maintain updated documents of the following, containing key information to allow evaluation of compliance with standards:
These documents must be made available for inspection by OCCP authorized personnel, upon request.
This document is intended to give interested persons or companies an overview of the standards and requirements for Organic Animal Husbandry Operations according to PNS 07:2016 and OCCP’s Standards. Some of the requirements have been revised from the PNS 07:2003 on Organic Agriculture. This document also gives the additional requirements of OCCP to all clients with Animal Husbandry operations.
Husbandry management shall take into account the behavioral needs of the animals and provide for:
Knowledge of the organic standards by all persons handling the organic product is critical in compliance with the standards. Lack of awareness on the requirements will have a higher risk that non-compliances will occur.
- location of hives, relevant vegetation, eventual sources of pollution
- information on general handling, reproduction, veterinary treatments, and special observations
The following ingredients/ raw materials are not allowed in the formulation:
Knowledge of the organic standards by all persons handling the organic product is critical in compliance with the standards. Lack of awareness on the requirements will have a higher risk that non-compliances will occur.
A complete audit trail is needed to prevent unintentional or fraudulent mixing of products and to verify that the grower has a system to track organic product until it is sold.
The farmer must maintain updated documents of the following, containing key information to allow evaluation of compliance with standards:
This document is intended to give interested persons or companies an overview of the standards on Organic Aquaculture according to PNS 112:2016, PNS 07:2016 and OCCP. This document also gives the additional certification requirements of OCCP to all clients with Aquaculture operations.
A complete audit trail is needed to prevent unintentional or fraudulent mixing of products and to verify that the grower has a system to track organic product until it is sold.
The company must maintain updated documents of the following, containing key information to allow evaluation of compliance with standards:
- size, design and lay-out; location of cages/pens/ponds; source of water (for ponds); location of adjacent conventional fish farms and eventual sources of pollution; location of marine protected areas, no catch zones and fishing zones; storage facilities
- Suitability of site, site description, health condition of immediate marine habitats, ecological footprint and carrying capacity of the resource system; past use of site with respect to waste, sediments and water quality
- information on general handling, water management, broodstock and fry selection, reproduction, special observations; pond preparation, fertilization, control of predators, post harvest practices etc
- Feeds: type, frequency, rate and target feed conversion ratio; Cleaning agents and disinfectants (chemical type, product name, quantity and duration/frequency of use, concentrations used
- stocking density, average body weight, survival rate, volume of production per unit area or volume
- veterinary treatments, record and probably cause of mortality during culture, etc.
This document is intended to give interested persons or companies an overview of the standards on Organic Crop Production according to PNS 07:2016 and OCCP. The requirements have been revised from the PNS 07:2003 on Organic Agriculture (highlight of changes in blue font). This document also gives the additional certification requirements of OCCP to all clients with Crop Production operations.
Knowledge of the organic standards by all persons handling the organic product is critical in compliance with the standards. Lack of awareness on the requirements will have a higher risk that non-compliances will occur.
A complete audit trail is needed to prevent unintentional or fraudulent mixing of products and to verify that the grower has a system to track organic product until it is sold.
Farmer-producer must maintain updated documents of the following, containing key information to allow evaluation of compliance with standards
This document is intended to give interested persons or companies an overview of the OCCP’s requirements for Group Certification. These requirements are generally based on IFOAM’s documents on Smallholder Group Certification, which is required by the Department Circular 01 series of 2018 issued by the Department of Agriculture
Farmers group (cooperatives, associations or similar organizations) or processors/ traders organizing and contracting their suppliers (small farmers) can apply for group certification.
The following conditions must be fulfilled in order to qualify:
ICS can be applied for different types of operations (i.e. crops, livestock, beekeeping, etc.)
The formal role of the ICS shall be a “controlling body” within the operator. A description of organic production practices and how it can be controlled shall be developed and inspected. Certification of Groups can only be granted if there is a functioning ICS. Group certification means that the organization is treated as one entity. Infringements by one or several producers may lead to decertification or sanctions affecting the whole group.
The group must maintain updated documents of the following, containing key information to allow evaluation of compliance with standards:
- overview of all handling steps from harvest to final sale; people responsible; names/addresses of all processor/warehouses or partners in organic handling; information on project sites
- positions, tasks
- name and code of farmer; total area under the organic crop; date of registration and date of last use of prohibited inputs; date of internal inspection and name of internal inspector; result of approval process; previous and estimated production yield
- location and code of group members; roads and landmarks; potential sources of contamination (i.e. adjacent conventional farms)
- evaluation of farm production including harvest and postharvest; evaluation of contamination risks; yield estimates
- Commitment to follow standards; give inspector access to fields, stores and documents; sanctions in case of non-compliance
-field history; last date of use of prohibited inputs; description of all areas under the management of the farmer (organic and non-organic); crops planted and area covered;
- clearly give the location, dimensions, boundaries, crops planted and the size of the land in terms of hectares 4.
The focus of the OCCP inspection and certification is evaluating if the ICS is functioning. This would involve inspection of the ICS implementation, product flow of organic produce and farm re-inspections, inspection of all postharvest facilities and witness audits to evaluate the performance of internal inspectors.
The number of producers controlled by the external (OCCP) inspector, is determined by the square root of the number of all growers, multiplied by a risk factor. The risk factor can vary between 1 to 4 depending on the level of effectiveness of the ICS, risks identified and/or rate of nonconformities identified during internal inspection. In case OCCP finds the internal control system to seriously lack reliability and effectiveness, it shall increase the number of farms subject to their annual inspection.
All members of the group has to study and keep a copy (hard copy or electronic file) of the respective standards
All members need to have adequate knowledge on organic rules and technologies
This document is intended to give interested persons or companies an overview of the OCCP’srequirements for Recognition of Prior Certification. Organic certification for products provided by other Certification Bodies (CB) according to particular organic standards, either imported or locally manufactured can be used to obtain OCCP certificate according to applicable PNS organic standards.This will allow the product to be sold in the Philippine market with an organic claim after verification of its certification status with the Certification Body who issued the organic certificate and the equivalence review of the standards for which the product is certified against.
(includes inspection by local inspectors)
(includes inspection by local inspectors)
(facilitation only)
This document is intended to give interested persons or companies an overview of the standards on Organic Processing according to PNS 07:2016 and OCCP. This document also gives the additional certification requirements of OCCP to all clients with Processing operations.
All processors involved with fermentation, cooking, use of processing aids/additives and other processes that results in transformation of the product (more than minimal processing)
Knowledge of the organic standards by all persons handling the organic product is critical in compliance with the standards. Lack of awareness on the requirements will have a higher risk that non-compliances will occur.
A complete audit trail is needed to prevent unintentional or fraudulent mixing of products and to verify that the processor/handler has a system to track organic product until it is sold.
Processors must maintain updated documents of the following, containing key information to allow evaluation of compliance with standards:
This document is intended to give interested persons or companies an overview of the organic standards and OCCP requirements for Trading/Distribution of Organic Products. Relevant sections of the PNS 07:2016 shall apply. This document also gives the additional certification requirements of OCCP to all clients with Trading/Distribution operations.
Traders/distributors must hold a copy of valid organic certificates from all their suppliers
Knowledge of the organic standards by all persons handling the organic product is critical in compliance with the standards. Lack of awareness on the requirements will have a higher risk that non-compliances will occur.
A complete audit trail is needed to prevent unintentional or fraudulent mixing of products and to verify that the operator has a system to track organic product until it is sold.
Traders/Distributors must maintain updated documents of the following, containing key information to allow evaluation of compliance with standards:
This document is intended to give interested persons or companies an overview of the standards on Organic-Wild Collection according to PNS 07:2016 and the additional certification requirements of OCCP to all clients with operationsrelating to Wild Harvesting and Mushroom Production.
Knowledge of the organic standards by all persons handling the organic product is critical in compliance with the standards. Lack of awareness on the requirements will have a higher risk that non-compliances will occur.
A complete audit trail is needed to prevent unintentional or fraudulent mixing of products and to verify that the company/collectors has a system to track organic product until it is sold.
The company must maintain updated documents of the following, containing key information to allow evaluation of compliance with standards:
These documents must be made available for inspection by OCCP authorized personnel, upon request.
Applications from all interested individual or companies would be processed and evaluated. It is assumed that operators who have submitted their application for certification have understood and complied with the requirements of the applicable standards. A list of documents shall be provided to the client to obtain the necessary information to evaluate if the application can be accepted or not. The information required includes, but not limited to the following:
The decision NOT to undertake the certification and inspection will be available within two weeks from date of receipt of complete application documents. All applicants who have signed the Contract and Offer for certification shall be assigned a producer code.
Renewal and new applications for OCCP Certification shall only be processed in the following cases:
It is also recommended that clients subscribe or open a dropbox account for document submissions (visit www.dropbox.com). Name the folder with your company name,"Application" and application year (e.g. PDCI-Application 2015). Share this folder to occp.cert@gmail.com for Luzon clients and occp.vis@gmail.com for Visayas and occp.min@gmail.com for Mindanao clients.
Processing shall be done after the requirement for application has been accomplished. Feedback on application documents and management plan will be done once pre-payment of fees has been made. There are issues on the feedback that has to be closed prior to inspection. Otherwise, inspection can be scheduled within a month. After inspection, all the non-compliances has to be resolved (closed or adequately addressed) before a certification decision can be issued. Implementation of corrective actions or plan of action has to be submitted by the client and accepted by OCCP. The whole process may take more or less 4-6 months depending also on how fast the client submits the required documentation to OCCP.
Organic certification and inspection covers the whole product chain and production system from farm production to processing and trading. This chain/system will be evaluated according to the organic standards (PNS & OCCP) and certification requirements of OCCP.
The objective is basically to:
There are different types of operations and these operations have specific standards and requirements (i.e. crop production, livestock/animal husbandry, processing/handling operations, smallholder grower groups, wild collection operations, trading and distribution, special products (wild honey, mushrooms, herbs, etc.), agricultural input manufacturing, beekeeping, aquaculture and other production/handling systems). It is therefore, important to know all the components of the whole farm and define which components will be covered by the certification.
What is actually guaranteed in organic certification is the conformity of the following aspects to the organic standards:
Inspections are normally announced in advance to make sure that the producers or processors and their employees are present. The inspection will cover but not limited to the following:
Special inspections, usually unannounced or short notice visits, may be carried out when:
Certain non-compliances identified during the evaluation of an operators management system have to be corrected before issuing a certification decision by either the submitting a plan of action or proof that corrective actions have been implemented. Sanction for severe infringements that may be imposed on the operation include the following:
OCCP is open to receive complaints about OCCP's policies, procedures, decisi¬ons, clients, staff and management to assure stakeholders better service or fulfillment of the respective standard(s). Clients who disagree with the decision arrived at have the right to make an Appeal through the Executive Director. Complaints and appeals must be made in writing.
The OCCP ‘s top management ensures the impartiality, objectivity, independence and integrity of its inspection certification activities. . Certification activities of OCCP are not be marketed or linked with the activities of organizations or individuals providing consultancy. Information or documents that are considered classified or proprietary which were obtained during the course of the certification process will be handled with outmost confidence.
Only the following information on OCCP Certified Clients will be made available to the public (through publications, electronic media or other means), upon request:
Confidential information will not be disclosed, published or otherwise revealed to third parties except with the specific prior written authorization of the owner of the information. Where the law requires it, however, confidential client information or restricted OCCP information will be released even without prior authorization. In addition and when permitted by the law, the client will be informed about the information that was disclosed to authorities.
This document is intended to ensure that certified operators/clients include all necessary information in their labels as required by the PNS 07:2016, DC 6 series 2015 (of the Department of Agriculture) and OCCP certification requirements. There should be no confusion about the certification status of products being sold. Care must be taken not to mislead consumers. There should be clear distinction between certified and non-certified products on labels and advertising materials.
Only products that are produced, handled and processed according to OCCP and PNS organic standards may be labeled as “produce of organic agriculture” or similar. The labeling should also comply with other organic product standards:
Only products that are produced, handled and processed according to OCCP and PNS organic standards may be labeled as “produce of organic agriculture” or similar. The labeling should also comply with other organic product standards:
This indication shall be used in labels for unprocessed agricultural products or agricultural inputs granted the “organic” certification status. Processed food products with single ingredients or with more than 95% of the ingredients (excluding water and salt) granted the “organic” certification status shall also labeled as such. Labeling of certified organic products as “organic” or similar shall have the “Certified Organic” seal attached on the product
This indication shall be used in labels for unprocessed agricultural products granted the “in-conversion” certification status. Use of this indication and the “In-conversion” seal is voluntary.
This indication shall be used in labels of processed food products with not less than 70% but not more than 95% of the ingredients (excluding water and salt) granted the “organic” certification status. The “made with organic ingredients” seal of OCCP may be used but cannot be labeled as “organic”.
The name and seal of OCCP shall not be used on processed food products with less than 70% of ingredients (excluding water and salt) granted the “organic” certification status. The ingredient(s) certified by OCCP shall appear only in the ingredients list with an asterisk noting that the product has been certified by OCCP.
The type of product certified including lot or batch numbers shall be included in labels. For multi-ingredient products, all ingredients shall be listed on the product label in order of their weight percentage. It shall be clear which ingredients are certified organic and which are not. All additives shall be listed with their full name.
The labels of the organic products must comply with the relevant labeling laws of the Republic of the Philippines. The label must allow the identification of the entity responsible for placing the product (producer or trader) in the market and shall therefore include the name and address of the operator. When the name and address of the certified operator cannot be indicated in the label, the seal with unique producer number assigned by OCCP may be used to identify the responsible entity.
Follow the condition for use of OCCP Seal and Philippine Organic Mark. Statement "Certified by OCCP" and the accreditation number assigned by the Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Standards must be placed under producer, processor or distributor name IF the OCCP Seal and Philippine Organic Mark will not be used.