IOAS Official Notice Assessment and Surveillance advice for CBs on Coronavirus COVID-19.
IOAS will proceed with assessments as scheduled whenever possible, and have moved to conducting remote audits where necessary due to travel restrictions. In cases where a remote audit is not possible, there may be the option to complete the assessment by desk review. Operator visits are being rescheduled for later in the year as needed. CB update reports should be submitted as usual, per the timeframes communicated by your Client Manager. If for any reason you are concerned about the effect of COVID-19 on your assessment activity in 2020, please reach out to your Client Manager to discuss options. We are here to support your Organic Certification business fairly, kindly and without discrimination through these uncertain times.
OFFICIAL NOTICE IOAS Assessment and Surveillance and Coronavirus COVID-19 March 13, 2020.
All CB's should have their own policies in place and the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) have released guidance to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 epidemic on certification and accreditation bodies.
ID3 – an informative document including useful ideas on how CBs and ABs should tackle extraordinary events such as the COVID 19 pandemic.
MD4 contains useful information on performing remote audits and assessment which may assist CBs in adopting such techniques to adapt to circumstances caused by the COVID 19 pandemic.
IOAS is providing for client CBs a summary of
Scheme requirements on certification and surveillance by CBs during COVID-19 pandemic as well as a
dedicated page on the IOAS website in which to access the current scheme owner notices on COVID-19. We will update you as we receive more information and we will collect all notices in this location.
https://ioas.org/information-center/client-area/coronavirus-covid-19/
CFIA confirms EUCOEA / UK agreements to continue during Brexit transition period ending Dec 31, 2020.
Global Affairs Canada issued a statement on 31 January, 2020 confirming that during the Brexit transition period, all Canada-EU agreements will continue to apply to the U.K. This includes the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA)—which means that trade between Canada and the U.K. will continue to benefit from duty-free access on 98% of products, and businesses should see no change in how they trade with the U.K. during this transition period.
COSMOS scheme open again to applicants.
COSMOS has confirmed to IOAS that it is once again open to accepting applications from new Certification Bodies interested in offering COSMOS Certification.
EU New regulation amending EC 1235/2008 published January 2020 application deadline 30 June 2020.
