Gaining organic certification to export organic produce to Canada

Operators wishing to gain organic certification for the Canadian Organic Market can do so with a US NOP certification and an Equivalence Attestation from NCO.

NASAA Certified Organic provides the vital link and access to exporting Australian certified organic produce to Canada.

NCO provides organic operators with the ability to access the regulated Canadian organic food market.

This includes complying and completing requirements and Export Certificates to exit from Australia and enter Canada.

The first step is to contact NCO directly to discuss what you need to do and how NCO can support your export program.

To apply for export approval to Canada under NOP certification, please send details of the products to be exported and the label to be used.

NCO will produce an Equivalence Attestation for the relevant products.

Labels must be approved by NCO prior to export to Canada. The NOP label may be used. NCO may authorise use of the Canadian label.

USA and Canadian Equivalency Agreement

The Equivalence Agreement signed between the US and Canada (USCOEA) enables operators certified by NCO under the US NOP to label organic goods for export to Canada providing the following conditions are met:

  • The Chain of Custody must be fully NOP compliant—this means that for any product to be exported to Canada, each part of the chain must be NOP certified.
  • An Equivalence Attestation is required to accompany organic raw and processed products shipped to Canada under the NOP Organic Certification. This is obtained from NCO and is in the form of a certificate. This is a requirement so that products crossing the borders are verified to meet the terms of the USCOEA and must appear on documentation travelling with the shipment.
  • Organic labelling rules in Canada are different to that of the US. US labels can have ‘100% Organic’ and ‘Made with Organic’ on the front panel, but Canada does not allow this. Canadian labels have to be bilingual (i.e. French and English).