REMINDER: Effective March 19, 2024- National Organic Program (NOP) Certificate Required for Importation of Organic Products

Flegenheimer International would like to remind our customers who are importing organic products to provide NOP certificate along with commercial documents in order to process customs clearance without any delay.

If your commercial invoice describes the product as organic, we will need to transmit the data on the NOP certificate. Product cannot be sold, marketed, or labeled as organic without the NOP certificate.

Importer has responsibilities to ensure accurate NOP certificate data that matches the product being imported and products are properly identified as organic on the commercial documents.

Use of Electronic NOP Import Certificates: – 21 digits

• Certifiers and operations must use the electronic NOP Import Certificate for organic products imported to the U.S.
• Certifier of exporter to U.S. generates Import Certificates in NOP’s Organic Integrity Database.
• Certificates may be issued that cover single or multiple shipments or a time period – issuances will depend on certifiers’ oversight system.
• NOP Import Certificate can be valid for a period of time (initially 12 months, with extension up to 18 months as determined by the Certifier)
• One NOP Import Certificate per commodity or HTS code
• NOP Import Certificate Number – 21 digits

The new rule (NOP) expands the types of Operations that must be certified:

• Any operation that produces or handles organic products must be certified unless they are exempt.
• Handle includes trade, export, import, or facilitate the sale or trade of an organic product.
• Some supply chain intermediaries that did not previously require certification, such as traders, commodity brokers, or importers, must become certified.
• Exporting to U.S. and Importing into U.S. are not exempt activities, regardless of packaging – we need the certification handshake across the border.

Resources:

Electronic Organic Import Certificates

NOP Import Certificates: – 21 digits

Certifiers generate NOP Import Certificates: NOP’s Organic Integrity Database

Guide to Organic Certification

Federal Register: NOP Final Rule

Flegenheimer Initial Newsletter: https://flegenheimer.com/effective-march-19-2024-usda-ams-national-organic-program-new-data-requirements/