JAS認証 オーガニック認定機構 OCO

Organic certification is a certification process for producers of organic food and other organic agricultural products, and it is to ensure that their production processes comply with national or international standards for organic farming and processing.

Usually, the certification process takes about 2 ~ 3 months, but it depends on the certifying body you choose and if any corrective action needs to be taken. However, OCO’s system makes it 30 days at the earliest. For further information on the certification procedures, please refer to the “Certification Procedures” page.

Under the Food Safety Basic Act that took effect in July 2003, it is required to verify the safety and content indication of the products with self-responsibility, and there will be differentiation by consumers and distributions between those who have official certificate or not. The JAS mark is the only organic symbol recognized and trusted in Japan. It will be more and more important to obtain JAS certification for advantage of customer satisfaction.

If you would like to export products with the JAS mark to Japan, you need JAS certification in addition to other ones. That is because only JAS certified products and ingredients may display the JAS seal and be sold as organic in Japan.

An annual on-site inspection is required to maintain “organic” status. Once the certification process is complete, future on-site inspections should occur every 12 months (or less than that). It is strongly recommended that inspections are set up a couple months in advance to assure they are carried out within the allowed time frame. If a period of more than one year passes without an on-site inspection, the certified body’s organic status may be nullified without warning.