| Legislative： |
1.These Directions were promulgated on Jun. 13, 2019 per Order
Nung-Liang-Tze 1081069430A. |
| Content： |
1. These Directions are established by the Council of
Agriculture, Executive Yuan (hereinafter referred to as
the COA) to facilitate the competent authority in managing
organic agricultural products and in-conversion agricultural
products in a consistent manner in accordance with the
Organic Agriculture Promotion Act (hereinafter referred
to as the Act) and enhancing management efficiency and
credibility.
2. The terms used in these Directions shall be defined as
follows:
(1) Inspection: Any examination, sampling for test, or request
for data or record from operators by the competent authority in
accordance with Article 22 of the Act
(2) Testing body: Any affiliated testing body (institution)
appointed or any other body (institution), school or
organization entrusted by the central competent authority in
accordance with paragraph 2 of Article 23 of the Act
(3) Organic product: Any organic agricultural product or in-
conversion agricultural product defined in Article 3 of the Act
3. Matters that the competent authority shall inspect in
accordance with the Act are provided as follows:
(1) No use of such prohibited substances as stipulated in
paragraph 2 of Article 15 of the Act, and assurance that organic
products do not contain prohibited substance as stipulated in
paragraph 3 of Article 15 of the Act;
(2) Matters concerning sale, labeling, display or advertisement
of organic products in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 16 of the
Act;
(3) Matters concerning naming of the non-natural operator in
paragraph 3 of Article 16 of the Act;
(4) Matters concerning sale, labeling, display, or advertisement
of imported agricultural products as organic in paragraph 1 of
Article 17 of the Act;
(5) Matters concerning labeling and display of organic products
in Articles 18 and 19 of the Act;
(6) Matters concerning the use of organic marks in accordance
with Article 20 of the Act;
(7) Matters concerning advertisement about agricultural products
in Article 21 of the Act;
(8) Matters concerning agricultural products prohibited from
being transported, withdrawn, recalled from the market or other
measures in Article 25 of the Act; and
(9) Other matters to be inspected in accordance with the Act.
4. Inspections conducted by the competent authority shall be
recorded. The operator or its representative or designee
shall cooperate with inspections and sign or stamp on
inspection records. However, in case the operator refuses
to sign or stamp on the records, the staff assigned by the
competent authority shall indicate the refusal and the time
and place of inspection on the records.
5. The competent authority shall take samples for test in
accordance with Article 22 of the Act in such sampling
method and quantity for organic products (specified in the
Appendix). The quantity of samples may be properly adjusted
as practically needed for each tested item, providing that
the samples shall be sufficient for test.
The samples taken in accordance with the preceding paragraph
shall be sealed by the competent authority with the endorsement
of the operator or its representative or designee by signing
on the seal. If the operator or its representative or designee
refuses to sign, the competent authority shall indicate the
refusal on the aforementioned records. The competent authority
shall take photos of the samples before and after being sealed.
The competent authority shall issue a receipt of samples to
the inspected party when conducting the inspection of samples
and keep a copy of the receipt for its record. However, the
competent authority does not have to issue a receipt of samples
to the inspected party if it obtains the samples by paying for
them.
The samples taken by the competent authority in accordance with
the first paragraph shall be delivered to the testing body for
testing within 3 days after the date of sampling.
6. The testing body, after receiving the samples delivered by
the competent authority in accordance with the fourth
paragraph of the previous article, shall complete the
testing and submit a test report to the competent authority
conducting the inspection within 20 days, and it shall also
inform the Central Competent Authority.
The competent authority, after receiving the test report
mentioned in the preceding paragraph, shall inform the
domestically certified operator or importer of any non-
compliance with the Act within 10 days in writing.
Test results showing that the products are required to be
destroyed by the regulations of the central health and welfare
authority shall be notified to the operator in a written notice.
7. If the organic products, as shown by inspection results, do
not meet the requirements provided in the Act and are
therefore withdrawn or recalled from the market pursuant to
the order of the competent authority, the operator or the
owner of the agricultural products shall withdraw all the
non-compliant products within one day after receiving the
notice of inspection results from the competent authority,
finish the recall of them within 10 days, and file the
recall report in writing to the competent authority of
the local municipality or county (city) government within
15 days. The report shall indicate clearly the names of
relevant entities that have be informed and the results
of the recall that has been conducted, including the name,
weight or volume, batch number and quantity of each recalled
product and other relevant information.
8. After receiving the notice of destruction from the competent
authority, the operator shall inform the competent authority
in its municipal/county/city government to jointly undertake
the destruction five days before the scheduled date of
destruction, or within five days before the scheduled date
in case of emergency.
9. Competent authorities in municipal/county/city governments
shall also inform the Central Competent Authority of the
inspections specified in these Directions.
10. Results of the inspections conducted by the competent
authority in accordance with these Directions shall be
announced periodically. However, when an operator applies
for a retest of organic products in accordance with
paragraph 1 of Article 24 of the Act, the result shall be
announced after the retest is completed.
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