[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 63 (Wednesday, April 2, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Page 15995]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-7885]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Institute of Standards and Technology


Announcement of a Public Workshop for Developing Criteria for 
Accreditation of Certification Bodies Involved in Organic Production 
and Processing

AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology.

ACTION: Notice of public meeting.

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SUMMARY: The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 
invites interested parties to attend a two-hour workshop regarding the 
development of criteria for a sub-program of the National Voluntary 
Conformity Assessment System Evaluation (NVCASE) Program for 
recognition of accreditors of certification bodies involved in organic 
production and processing.
    NVCASE program procedures require NIST to consult the public when 
establishing requirements to be applied in evaluations conducted within 
the scope of NVCASE programs. There is no fee for the workshop; 
however, all attendees must register in advance with the Workshop 
Coordinator no later than May 1, 2003. Due to limited space, the 
interested parties will be registered on a first-come first-served 
basis.

DATES: The workshop will be held on May 9, 2003, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

ADDRESSES: The workshop will be held at National Institute of Standards 
and Technology (NIST--North), located at 820 W. Diamond Avenue, Room 
152, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20878.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Contact Jogindar (Joe) Dhillon via 
telephone at (301) 975-5521. You may register for the workshop by e-
mail at [email protected] or by fax at (301) 975-5414. You may also 
register by U.S. mail addressed to NVCASE Workshop Coordinator, 
(Attention: Joe Dhillon), NIST, 100 Bureau Drive, Stop 2150, 
Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899-2150.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In accordance with Title 15 Part 286.2(b) of 
the Code of Federal Regulations, NIST will establish this program 
pursuant to a letter received from the International Organic 
Accreditation Service (IOAS) in which it expressed its interest to seek 
NIST recognition under the NVCASE program. IOAS is an accreditor of 
product certifiers for organic production and processing. Further 
information for IOAS is available at http://www.ioas.org. NIST may 
recognize IOAS and any other prospective candidate who will then 
accredit certification bodies for organic production and processing. 
This sub-program would use the norms of International Federation of 
Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM). You may access IFOAM Norms 2002 
at http://www.ifoam.org/standard/index.html.
    Due to heightened security concerns, interested parties who wish to 
attend the workshop should arrive 30 minutes prior to the beginning of 
the workshop and should bring two forms of identification.
    A copy of NVCASE regulations is available at http://ts.nist.gov/nvcase. This program under NVCASE will allow the certification bodies 
to satisfy the conformity assessment requirements of international 
Guides/Standards and IFOAM norms.

    Dated: March 28, 2003.
Arden Bement,
Director.
[FR Doc. 03-7885 Filed 4-1-03; 8:45 am]
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