Excerpt from: Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg |  January 05, 2017

The Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service has announced that on Jan. 16 all organic products entering the U.S. from Mexico will have to be accompanied by a National Organic Program import certificate. Mexico plans to impose a similar requirement for organic products imported from the U.S. in early 2017.

NOP import certificates are used to verify that products shipped to the U.S. comply with the USDA organic regulations and must be issued by an accredited certifying agent. USDA currently requires such certificates for organic imports coming from European Union member states, Japan, South Korea, and Switzerland.

The USDA will host two separate webinars Jan. 10 to help certifying agents and importers understand the import certificate requirement and prepare for its implementation with respect to Mexico.