NPOP Certification

The India Organic certification mark certifies that an organic food product conforms to NPOP standards. The scope of the NPOP is comprehensive. It includes policies for the development and certification of organic products and national standards for those products and processes.

To provide for the focused and well-directed development of organic agriculture and quality products, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry under the Government of India launched the National Program for Organic Production (NPOP) in 2000. This program was officially informed in October 2001 under the Foreign Trade and Development Act. As indicated by DGFT notices, agricultural products exported as organic need to have an organic certificate issued by an accredited certifying agency.

Certification permits you to use the India Organic logo. The India Organic affirmation mark confirms that an organic food product conforms to NPOP standards.

The scope of the NPOP is comprehensive. It includes policies for the development and certification of organic products and national standards for those products and processes. The NPOP also takes into account accreditation of programs to be operated by inspection and certification agencies, along with the certification of organic products.

Organic products are grown under a system of agriculture without the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides with an environmentally and socially responsible approach. This is a method of farming that works at grass root level preserving the reproductive and regenerative capacity of the soil, good plant nutrition, and sound soil management, produces nutritious food rich in vitality which has resistance to diseases.

India is bestowed with a lot of potentials to produce all varieties of organic products due to its various Agro-climatic regions. In several parts of the country, the inherited tradition of organic farming is an added advantage. This hold promises for the organic producers to tap the market which is growing steadily in the domestic and export market.

As per the available statistics, India’s rank in terms of World’s Organic Agricultural land was 9th and in terms of the total number of producers was 1st as per 2018 data (Source: FIBL & IFOAM Year Book 2018).

The Government of India has implemented the National program for Organic Production (NPOP). The national program involves the accreditation program for Certification Bodies, standards for organic production, promotion of organic farming etc. The NPOP standards for production and accreditation system have been recognized by the European Commission and Switzerland for unprocessed plant products as equivalent to their country standards. Similarly, USDA has recognized NPOP conformity assessment procedures of accreditation as equivalent to that of US. With these recognitions, Indian organic products duly certified by the accredited certification bodies of India are accepted by the importing countries

The basic requirements for applicant organizations for accreditation under the National Programme for Organic Production are explained in detail below:

• Application form in Prescribed Format
• Registration certificate indicating its legal status
• Memorandum of Company, Association and Trust (MOA)
• Organizational structure
• List of manpower along with their competence status, qualifications, experience, experience in auditing and training
• Audited balance sheets
• Prescribed accreditation fee
• Operating and Quality manual as per ISO 17065
• Standard operating procedures, formats and checklists as per the requirement of the scope being applied for accreditation
• Authority letter from the organization for the person assigning authority
• Any other relevant information

The application fee for the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) is explained as follows:

• An applicant has to deposit an Accreditation fee of Rs.15000 along with the application form for Accreditation for the first year.
• The fee should be in the form of a bank draft in favor of APEDA payable at New Delhi.

Note: In the event of non-approval of Accreditation by the National Accreditation Body constituted for the purpose, the fee paid should be refunded after deducting 25% towards processing charges.

For renewal of the certificate of Accreditation, a renewal fee of Rs.10000 for 3 years will be remitted with the application for renewal.

Validity of Certificate of Accreditation

The Certificate of Accreditation will be valid for 3 years from the date of issue of Certificate of Accreditation.

At Corpseed, we are committed to offer our services to the entrepreneurs and businesses as a very cost-effective proposition. We believe that a customer is always right and the focus of any business activity should be to serve the customer with utmost loyalty. We will help you complete your NPOP Certification from start to end.