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Technical Working Group on the US/Canada Organic Equivalence Arrangement - Terms of reference

Objective

In June 2009, the Governments of Canada and the United States signed an organics equivalence arrangement recognizing their respective determinations of each other's organic certification program. Under this arrangement, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), Canada Organic Office (COO) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Organic Program (NOP) have established a Technical Working Group to develop procedures to deliver, verify, report and document the elements of the US/Canada organic equivalence arrangement. The Technical Working Group provides recommendations to the US/Canada Steering Committee for approval.

Structure

The US/Canada Technical Working Group will be co-chaired by the NOP and the CFIA and will be comprised of members drawn from the CFIA and the USDA NOP.

If necessary, technical experts may be invited by agreement of the co-chairs to provide information or clarification on specific issues.

The co-chairs will be responsible for scheduling and conducting meetings in accordance with the Terms of Reference and for preparing the meeting agenda.

Mandate

The mandate of the Technical Working Group is to:

Guiding principles

The following general principles will govern the Technical Working Group:

Budget and administrative needs

Co-chairs of the Technical Working Group will be responsible for ensuring that their working group members look after their own administrative needs (for example, meeting arrangements, document preparation and distribution, records of decision etc.).

Documentation and reporting

Meeting frequency

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