Organic Certification Center of the Philippines, originally formed to comply the ISO 17065 requirements, has been established as a distinct and independent organization. Its major role include advocating for and conducting training on organic farming and organic certification. In 2002, under Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), OCCP has been registered as a non-stock corporation whose principal purpose is to serve as an inspection body for food and food products as well as agricultural inputs to cater the agriculture industry and the consumer of certified products. Now, they are focusing on activities for inspection and certification services.
*The Certification Process:*
Application from all interested individual or companies would be processed and evaluated.
The applicant must provide the following:
Products to be certified
1. Standards and scope for certification
2. Activities of the client (including those not requested for certification)
3. Organizational resources, functions and relationships (i.e. larger corporations, sister companies)
4. Outsourcing or subcontracting of activities for certification
5. Location and number of units (i.e. farms, processing facilities, buying centers, warehouse, etc.)
*Start of Application Processing:*
Renewal and new applications for OCCP Certification shall only be processed in the following cases:
– Applicable fees hashave been paid according to agreed schedule. Proof of payment (deposit slip) has to be presented for proper recording.
– Documents are complete and correct. Electronic copies are preferred. OCCP forms shall be submitted in unprotected Word and/or Excel formats. For documents requiring signature of the company representative, the originally signed document have to be sent to the office or scanned and emailed in PDF format.
– All electronic files have been named properly. Please refer to attached document for your guide. Not all types of documents are listed in this guide. In this case, please feel free to provide the appropriate file name.
*Duration of Application Processing:*
Processing shall be done after receiving all the required documents. Feedback on application documents and management plan will be done once pre-payment of fees has been made. Issues observed have to be closed prior to inspection. Otherwise, inspection can be scheduled within a month. After inspection, all the non-compliances have to be resolved (closed or adequately addressed) before a certification decision can be issued. Implementation of corrective actions or plan of action has to be submitted by the client and accepted by OCCP. The whole process may take more or less 4-6 months depending also on how fast the client submits the required documentation to OCCP.