Kia ora koutou and welcome to the October edition of MPI Organic News

We hope everyone has been keeping safe and your feet on the ground with the weather across the country. The spring wind has certainly picked up across the motu!

It has been another busy month with the team working through the next steps to get the drafting instructions for the National Organic Standard regulations through to Parliamentary Counsel Office (PCO) to be drafted into legislation.

Please note that the final edition of Organic News for 2023 will be published in December and we’ll be back in February 2024.  To find out further information on work happening in the organics space over October, please read below.

Now that Cabinet has agreed to the proposals for the National Organic Standard regulations, our legal team is busy writing the drafting instructions for these to go to Parliamentary Counsel Office. We are carefully reviewing these to ensure the instructions capture the intent of what has been agreed. The next step is for PCO to receive these instructions and assign a drafter.

While the team had aimed to come out for consultation on the supplementary notices later this year, we are unable to do this until we have stable text available from the drafting of the Standard regulations.  Consultation on the supplementary notices will now be held next year.

After much anticipation, we have received a draft of the Process Regulations from PCO. The team is currently reviewing this first draft and responding to the questions asked by PCO.  There will be several iterations of these regulations to work through, but it’s great to see this work coming to life. We will be keeping you updated on how this work is tracking as further progress is made.

Organic Export Requirement: Organic Production Rules (OER: OPR) Published

MPI has updated the list of generic inputs that is permitted for use in the Official Organic Assurance Programme. The revised Organic Export Requirements: Organic Production Rules (OER: OPR) was published on 2 October 2023. This includes changes for the use of beach cast seaweed, and clarification for the maximum number of courses of veterinary medicines permitted per year for animals before reconversion is required.

The Official Organic Assurance Programme helps to facilitate the export of organic products to going to seven overseas markets. If you are interested in finding out more about the Official Organic Assurance Programme please see more details in the links below.

Organic Export Requirements: Organic Production Rules (OER: OPR): Organic Production Rules (mpi.govt.nz)

Update to consultation web page: Proposed changes to the Official Organic Assurance Programme Organic Export Requirements: Organic Production Rules | NZ Government (mpi.govt.nz)

The Organics Sector Advisory Council meeting was held last month in Wellington. On the agenda was an update on progress with the new MPI Trade Certification system. MPI Trade Certification is the system that will replace MPI's existing certification systems for exports and imports. It will be a modern, digital system that is flexible and user friendly.

A small number of businesses will be testing the digital front end of MPI Trade Certification during the first half of 2024. More certificate types will gradually be brought bring into the system throughout the year. This will be by product type, export destination and other factors. All exporters will have moved to the new system by the end of 2025. We will work to ensure the transition to the new system is as quick and smooth as possible for businesses.

You can read more about the move to MPI Trade Certification, including a more detailed timeline, on the MPI Trade Certification website. If you have questions for the MPI Trade Certification team, please email futurecertification@mpi.govt.nz