According to the Agricultural Production and Certification Act, Organic Agricultural Product and Organic Agricultural Processed Product Certification Management Regulations, Imported Organic Agricultural Product and Organic Agricultural Processed Product Management Regulations, and other relevant regulations, only those certified to be in compliance with organic standards stipulated by the central governing body can be sold under the name of “organic”; Imported organic agro-products or processed products, on the other hand, must be certified by certifiers that are accredited by countries or accreditation institutes (organizations) published by Taiwan’s central governing authority are eligible for sales.
To establish credibility for our national organic standards, a third-party certification system has been introduced. In this arrangement, certifiers shall be accredited by MOA authorized accreditation bodies before carrying out their certification works under the Certification Standards for Organic Agricultural Products and Organic Agricultural Processed Products. The MOA in addition has formulated Directions for Management of Agricultural Certification Bodies to govern accreditation, audit, and assessment of certifiers. Currently, the routine assessment works are entrusted to Taiwan Accreditation Foundation (TAF), who audit sand assesses agricultural certifiers on a periodical basis.