[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 10 (Friday, January 15, 2016)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 2067-2068]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-00678]



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  Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 10 / Friday, January 15, 2016 / Rules 
and Regulations  

[[Page 2067]]



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Agricultural Marketing Service

7 CFR Part 205

[Document Number AMS-NOP-14-0012; NOP-14-03]


National Organic Program: Notice of Final Guidance on Substances 
Used in Post-Harvest Handling of Organic Products

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of availability of final guidance.

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SUMMARY: The National Organic Program (NOP) is announcing the 
availability of a final guidance document intended for use by 
accredited certifying agents, and certified and exempt organic 
operations. The guidance document is entitled: Substances Used in Post-
Harvest Handling of Organic Products (NOP 5023). This guidance document 
is intended to inform the public of NOP's current thinking on this 
topic.

DATES: The final guidance document announced by this document is 
effective on January 19, 2016.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul Lewis, Ph.D., Standards Division, 
National Organic Program, USDA-AMS-NOP, 1400 Independence Ave. SW., 
Room 2642-S., Ag Stop 0268, Washington, DC 20250-0268. Telephone: (202) 
720-3252, Email: [email protected]; Telephone: (202) 260-9294.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    On April 25, 2014, the National Organic Program (NOP) published in 
the Federal Register a notice of availability with request for public 
comment on a draft guidance document addressing the permitted 
substances that may be used in post-harvest handling of organic 
products (79 FR 22886). The NOP selected the topic for the guidance 
document announced through this notice in response to questions raised 
by certifiers and organic operations. These stakeholders requested that 
the NOP clarify the requirements and limitations regarding the 
substances permitted in post-harvest handling. The NOP also discussed 
and received feedback on this topic at a training session for 
certifiers in Portland, Oregon, in February 2011. The draft NOP 
guidance can be viewed on the NOP Web site at http://www.ams.usda.gov/rules-regulations/organic. The 60-day comment period closed on June 24, 
2014.
    NOP received 10 comments on the draft guidance document. Based upon 
the comments received, the NOP revised and is publishing a final 
guidance document on Substances Used in Post-Harvest Handling of 
Organic Products (NOP 5023). The guidance document includes an appendix 
(NOP 5023-1) where the NOP provides a complete discussion of the 
comments received and the rationale behind any changes made to the 
guidance documents.
    This final guidance clarifies the USDA organic regulations 
regarding substances used in post-harvest handling activities such as 
washing, packing and storage of organic products. There is no discrete 
section of the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances 
(National List) (7 CFRs 205.600 through 205.607) designated for 
substances used in these post-harvest handling activities. Instead, the 
substances allowed for use in post-harvest handling appear in different 
sections of the National List (e.g., section 205.601 for crop 
production, section 205.605 for processing), or are nonsynthetic 
substances, and are therefore not included on the National List for 
crop production. This has led to confusion about the point at which 
crop production for unprocessed commodities ends, when processing 
starts, and which substances may be used for post-harvest activities 
that may occur on farm or in a processing facility.
    This final guidance provides information to all USDA-accredited 
certifying agents (certifiers) and certified and exempt organic 
operations about substances that may be used in post-harvest handling 
of organic products. More specifically, this final guidance clarifies: 
(1) What substances may be used for post-harvest handling; (2) the 
difference between ``post-harvest handling of raw agricultural 
commodities'' and ``further processing''; and (3) the regulatory 
requirements for facility pest management. This guidance also defines 
post-harvest substances and post-harvest handling.
    This final guidance is available from the NOP through ``The Program 
Handbook: Guidance and Instructions for Accredited Certifying Agents 
(ACAs) and Certified Operations''. This Handbook provides those who 
own, manage, or certify organic operations with guidance and 
instructions that can assist them in complying with the USDA organic 
regulations. The current edition of the Program Handbook is available 
online at http://www.ams.usda.gov/rules-regulations/organic/handbook.

II. Significance of Guidance

    This final guidance document is being issued in accordance with the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Bulletin on Agency Good Guidance 
Practices (GGPs) (January 25, 2007, 72 FR 3432-3440).
    The purpose of GGPs is to ensure that program guidance documents 
are developed with adequate public participation, are readily available 
to the public, and are not applied as binding requirements. This final 
guidance represents NOP's current thinking on the topic. It does not 
create or confer any rights for, or on, any person and does not operate 
to bind the NOP or the public. Guidance documents are intended to 
provide a uniform method for operations to comply that can reduce the 
burden of developing their own methods and simplify audits and 
inspections. Alternative approaches that can demonstrate compliance 
with the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA), as amended (7 U.S.C. 
6501-6522), and its implementing regulations are also acceptable. As 
with any alternative compliance approach, NOP strongly encourages 
industry to discuss alternative approaches with NOP before implementing 
them to avoid unnecessary or wasteful expenditures of resources and to 
ensure the proposed alternative approach complies with the Act and its 
implementing regulations.

[[Page 2068]]

III. Electronic Access

    Persons with access to Internet may obtain the final guidance at 
the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service Web site at http://www.ams.usda.gov/rules-regulations/organic. Requests for hard copies of 
the draft guidance documents can be obtained by submitting a written 
request to the person listed in the ADDRESSES section of this Notice.

    Authority:  7 U.S.C. 6501-6522.

    Dated: January 11, 2016.
Erin Morris,
Associate Administrator, Agricultural Marketing Service.
[FR Doc. 2016-00678 Filed 1-14-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3410-02-P