Consumers can soon be confident that the organic products they choose are truly organic, as the development of an Australian Standard for the organic and biodynamic industry nears completion. The draft Australian Standard for Organic and Biodynamic Products was released on 21 July by Standards Australia, for public comment.
Although we have an organic certification system, there is currently no state or federal regulation of agricultural practice and management of domestically sold organic products, or of marketing claims on organic products. The adoption of an Australian Standard provides benchmark definitions that will allow the ACCC to take action against products labelled as organic that do not comply with the Standard. The individual Standards of the certifying bodies cannot by used for this purpose as they are considered to be private definitions.
The Australian Standard is the first step in achieving regulation of certified organic products, including imports – to provide protection for consumers and producers. Once finalised, it will establish a uniform Standard which will stipulate requirements for the production, preparation, transportation, marketing and labelling of organic and biodynamic products.
To read the draft Standard, visit the Standards Australia website at www.standards.org.au
