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Organic Product Safety Management Policies and Systems in Germany and

TaiwanChang-Ju Huang-Tzeng

Department of Applied Economics, National I-Lan University

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to understand and compare the organic product

certification systems of Germany and Taiwan, including their respective division of labor,

relevant laws and regulations, and approval and supervision of certification organizations, and

to illuminate the two countries' safety management methods, including quality monitoring,

risk assessment, data management, and crisis handling.

Since Taiwan has not yet legislated organic agriculture regulations, and still has much

work to do before it reaches that point, Germany's organic agriculture laws and regulations,

and division of labor among management units, may well serve as an example for Taiwan.

The certification systems of Germany and Taiwan are identical. Both countries employ private

certification under government supervision. But in comparison with Germany, Taiwan's

supervision of certification organizations and approval and oversight of certification

personnel need further strengthening in order to improve certification quality. Taiwan can also

learn from Germany's risk management principles when strengthening supervision of

certification units, certification personnel, and certified farms. As for quality monitoring,

Taiwan has been more aggressive than Germany in pesticide residue testing and public

announcement of testing results, and in the online management and announcement of

certification data. On the other hand, Taiwan lacks Germany's certification management risk

analysis and control, as well as Germany's rapid notification when a problem affecting an

organic problem occurs.

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Keywords: organic agriculture, food safety, policies and systems

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I. Introduction

The biggest and most important difference between organic products (including

agricultural products, foods and animal feed; same below) and conventional products is that

the production of the former emphasizes protection of the environment and ecology, and does

not involve the use of any hazardous substances. Nevertheless, there is no significant

difference in appearance between organic products and ordinary products, and testing for

pesticides or other chemical residues cannot guarantee that organic products are completely

free from chemicals or other unwanted matter. Therefore, in order to insure that the organic

product production process complies with relevant regulations, many countries have gone

beyond drafting organic laws and regulations by also formulating implementations steps or

guiding principles.

This study chiefly investigates Germany's organic product safety management

regulations and methods of implementing quality monitoring, risk assessment, data

management, and crisis handling, makes comparisons with relevant regulations and methods

in Taiwan, and finally proposes recommendations concerning organic product management in

Taiwan.

II. Organic Product Management System

summarizes the relationships between organic product management laws and

regulations in Germany and Taiwan. The European Union's "Council Regulation on organic

production of agricultural products and indications referring thereto on agricultural products

and foodstuffs" (EEC, 2004; referred to below as the "EU Organic Regulation") has legal

force in all EU member states, and must therefore be upheld in Germany. The EU Organic

Regulation chiefly governs rules of production, inspection systems, and product import.

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Table 1 Organic Product Management Regulations in Germany and Taiwan

Germany TaiwanRegulation Drafted by Time

draftedRegulation Drafted by

(responsibleunit)

Timedrafted

Organic Regulation European Union 1991 Organic AgriculturalProduct ManagementOperating Guidelines

COA(Agriculture

and FoodAgency)

2003

Organic Agricultural

Product ProductionRegulations Crops

COA

(Agriculture and Food

Agency)

2003

Organic AgriculturalProduct Production

Regulations Livestock

COA(AnimalIndustry

Department)

2003

Organic AgricultureLaw

BMVEL 2002 None

PrivateCertificationOrganization

ApprovalProcedure Rules

BLE 2003 Organic AgriculturalProduct Certification

Organization ApprovalOperating Procedures

COA 2003

CertificationOrganization

Supervision Rules

Lnder GovernmentJoint Organic Work

Team

2004 None

Organic Logo Act BMVEL 2001 NoneOrganic Logo

Format and UsageRegulations

BMVEL 2002 None

BMVEL: The German Ministry of Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture

Source: Adapted by this study.

Regulations similar to the EU Organic Regulation in Taiwan include the "Organic

Agricultural Product Management Operating Guidelines" governing the certification system

and the "Organic Agricultural Product Production Regulations Crops" and "Organic

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Agricultural Product Production Regulations Livestock" governing rules of production.

Articles of the EU Organic Regulation governing the inspection system include Article 8,

Article 9, and Annex III, which specifies minimum inspection requirements and early warning

measures. The EU Organic Regulation stipulates that the targets of inspection shall include

producers, preparers, and importers, which are collectively termed "operators." This implies

that farms, processors, importers, restaurants, packaging plants, and processing plants are

subject to inspection. Those firms that do not perform any packaging and processing

operations, or that perform repackaging or cutting (of meat or cheese, for example) in front of

consumers, or that allow consumers to select desired portions from large packages (bags,

boxes, buckets) before packaging and sale are not subject to inspection. However, consumers

and consumer groups have occasionally questioned the stipulation that retailers are not subject

to inspection.

The EU Organic Regulation specifies the following concerning organic inspection

systems:

1. In order to regulate operators, a country shall establish an inspection system implemented

by one or more authorities or private organizations empowered to perform inspection.

2. A country shall take necessary measures to ensure that operators that comply with organic

regulations and pay for inspection expenses have the right to use the inspection system.

3. With regard to participation of private organizations certification, a country shall

empower an authority to approve and supervise private certification organizations.

4. When a country approves a private organization to perform certification, the country shall

pay attention to the organization's standard operating procedures for certification work,

punishment of violators, organizational resources (qualified work personnel,

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administrative and technical ability, certification experience, reliability), and objectivity of

operator certification.

5. After a certification organization has been approved, the government authority shall bear

responsibility for (1) ensuring that the certification organization is able to objectively and

effectively implement certification, (2) hearing any violations discovered and

implementing punishment, and (3) revoking approval when the certification organization

fails to comply with regulations.

A government shall ensure traceability of meats and relevant livestock products

throughout the entire production chain. Beyond complying with the EU Organic Regulation,

the German government's organic product management must also comply with relevant

domestic laws including the Organic Agriculture Law (Gesetz zum kologischen Landbau)

(BMVEL, 2002a.), the Organic Logo Act (Gesetz zur Einfrung und Verwendung eines

Kennzeichens fr Zeugnisse des kologischen landbaus, also referred to as ko-

Kennzeichengesetz or koKennzG) (BMVEL, 2001.), and the Organic Logo Format and

Usage Regulations (Verordnung zur Gestaltung und Verwendung des ko-Kennzeichens, also

referred to as ko- Kennzzeichenverordnung or koKennzV) (BMVEL, 2002b.).

Germany drafted the Organic Agriculture Law in order to implement the EU Organic

Regulation. This law consists of 15 articles, and explicitly specifies matters including the

implementing authority, certification system (Kontrollsystem), approval and revocation of the

certification organization, mission of the certification organization, customs cooperation,

supervision, data notification, expenses and costs, authorization, punishments, fines, and

confiscation, etc.

The German Ministry of Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture (referred to below

as the BMVEL) is the government agency in charge of organic agriculture. In accordance

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with the Organic Agriculture Law, the following government entities and the private

certification organizations play roles in the certification mechanism:

1. When not specified, Lnder government authorities shall bear responsibility in accordance

with state laws.

2. The Department of Food and Agriculture (Bundesanstalt fr Landwirtscheaft und

Ernhrung, abbreviated as BLE) is responsible for the following tasks:

1 Approval and revocation of private certification organizations

2 Issuance of code numbers to approved private certification organizations

3 Issuance of sales licenses to imported products

3. Duties of Lnder governments:

1 A Lnder government shall entrust its inspection duties to a certification

organization that is able to perform said duties in an independent, professional, and

reliable manner, or shall provide a natural person or juristic person with duties

similar to those of a certification organization, or shall participate (or cooperate)

with them to implement inspection duties.

2 A Lnder government shall formulate entrustment and cooperation

conditions and procedures.

3 A Lnder government shall supervise its certification organization.

4 If circumstances constituting grounds for revocation of the certification

organization are discovered, a Lnder government shall notify BLE and request

BLE to implement approval revocation procedures.

4. Customs cooperation:

1 The Ministry of Finance and its subordinate customs agency shall cooperate

in the supervision of imported organic products.

2 The Ministry of Finance and its subordinate customs agency shall bear

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responsibility for reporting infractions, performing registration, and notification,

and shall bear responsibility for inspecting relevant documents and examining

samples or specimens.

5. Responsibilities of certification organizations:

1 Unless the Lnder government authority consents to rejection of the application, a

certification organization shall bear responsibility for performing certification of

any corporate entity that has paid necessary expenses.

2 A certification organization shall report any violations of regulations discovered

at the time of certification to the Lnder government authority.

In accordance with relevant German laws and regulations, and referring to other research

(Neuendorff, 2003 and www.soel.de), this study has schematized Germany's organic product

management system as shown in Fig. 1; this diagram sheds light on the duties of various

agencies and their interrelationship. Apart from the foregoing government certification

system, organic farming associations also certify their member enterprises. Germany relied

solely on private certification mechanisms prior to the drafting of the EU Organic Regulation.

Although the number of operators participating in organic farming association certification

increased after the adoption of government certification mechanisms, their percentage fell

from 87.9% in 1996 to 58% in 2003 (SL, 2004). While most organic farming associations

recommend certain appropriate certification companies to their members, enterprises can

freely select certification organizations, and if an enterprise needs association certification, the

certification company shall simultaneously perform government certification and association

certification of the enterprise.

As for imported products, BLE has drafted the "Rules Governing Importers of Organic

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Products from a Third Country to the European Union" (Leitlinien fr Importeure

kologischer Erzeugnisse aus Drittlnderrn in die Europische Union gem Verordnung

(EWG) Nr. 2092/91 in geltender Fassung) in accordance with the EU Organic Regulation.

Fig. 2 is a schematic view of Taiwan's organic product management system based on

organic agriculture regulations, including the Organic Agricultural Product Management

Operating Guidelines, Organic Agricultural Product Production Regulations Crops and

Livestock, Organic Agricultural Product Certification Organization Approval Operating

Procedures, and Organic Agricultural Product Certification Organization Certification

Procedures (Council of Agriculture, 2004).

EU

BMVEL

Lnder autoritiesBLE

Certification Companies

Importers Processors

6. notification

Farms

2.approval

1.application

4. certification

5.supervision

FarmersAssociations

3. authorization

Trade7. labeling

Customs

7

1

1

1 1

1

1

2 2

3

44

6

4

5 5

66

6

66

6

3

3

Figure 1. Germany Organic products management system

6

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As in Germany, farmers must obtain certification from certification organizations, and

certification organizations must obtain approval from a government authority. The main

differences are that Taiwan has not yet enacted its Organic Agricultural Product Management

Operating Guidelines, and has not yet determined a national organic Logo to identify organic

products. As a result, non-certified products are commonly marked as being organic products.

The Agriculture and Food Agency is the organic crop authority in Taiwan, and it has

established the Organic Agricultural Product Certification Guidance Commission to perform

consulting tasks. A certification organization (must be a nonprofit organization) may apply to

the government for approval in accordance with the Organic Agricultural Product

Certification Organization Approval Operating Procedures. Certification organizations bear

Figure 2 Taiwan's Organic Product

Management System3.authorization

2.application

1.application

6. notification

5. supervision

7. labeling

COA

Animal Industry

DepartmentAgriculture and Food Agency

Food Production

Section Certification Guidance

Commission for crops

Certification organizations

Other crop farms

Organic Livestock

Product Certification

Guidance

Commission

Certification Guidance

Commission for

livestocks

Agricultural Research

and Extension Stations

Livestock farms

5 5

22

3

25

1 1

4

6

6

6

Agricultural

Materials Section

Rice farms

5 1 6

Trade

7

3

3

10

4.certification

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responsibility for certification of organic agricultural products. The Agricultural Materials

Section of the Agriculture and Food Agency is currently responsible for evaluation and

approval of crop certification organizations, and the Animal Industry Department of the

Council of Agriculture (COA) is the authority in charge of organic animal products. Although

production regulations have been determined for animal products, there are not yet any

organic animal product certification organizations (the Animal Industry Department is

currently assisting the National Animal Industry Foundation to serve as a certification

organization) or organic livestock farms. And while the Organic Agricultural Product

Management Operating Guidelines explicitly state that imported products may apply for

certification from a Taiwanese certification organization, no imported products have applied

for certification thus far.

Taiwan has not yet drafted principles for the supervision of certification organizations.

As for product supervision, the Agricultural Materials Section of the Agriculture and Food

Agency bears responsibility for monitoring organic crop products (apart from rice), and

sampling work is entrusted to agricultural research and extension stations. The Food

Production Section of the Agriculture and Food Agency bears responsibility for monitoring of

organic rice. The assigning of three units to bear responsibility for different products prevents

the unification of duties and powers, and does not incorporate city and county governments in

the organic product management system. This is certainly not an ideal division of labor.

Germany also has a food certification system in addition to its organic certification

system, it was established in 2001 and termed the "quality and safety system" (Qualitt und

Sicherheit System, abbreviated QS). This system consists of three levels: corporate self-

management, certification by a certification organization approved by the QS company, and

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management of the certification organization by the QS company1. The QS company was

established by six major national associations2 and performs certification of meat products.

Certification items have now expanded to cover vegetables and fruit. Many organic operators

also obtain this certification, and organic certification companies ordinarily also perform QS

certification.

Approval and Supervision of Certification Organizations

Organic certification systems are different in various EU countries. Denmark and Finlandhave adopted national certification systems; there is no "certification" of operators under these

systems, but inspectors perform supervision and inspection of operators. Austria employs

certification by private organizations, and an accreditation organization performs supervision

and management of certification organizations. The Netherlands has only one certification

company responsible for nationwide certification. And Germany employs certification by

private organizations under government supervision.

Since BLE must approve private certification organizations accordance with the Organic

Agriculture Law, BLE has therefore drafted the Private Certification Organization Approval

Procedure Rules (Leitlinien zum Zulassungsverfahrung der privaten Kontrollstellen) (BLE,

2003). The following is a summary of the main sections of the Rules; this information may be

useful as a reference for Taiwan:

1 Please see http://www.q-s.info/ for further information.2 Deutscher Raiffeisenverband e. V. (Stufe Futtermittel),Deutscher Bauernverband e. V.

(Stufe Landwirtschaft), Verband der Fleischwirtschaft e. V. (Stufe Schlachtung und

Zerlegung), Bundesverband der Deutschen Fleischwarenindustrie e. V. (Stufe

Fleischwarenindustrie), Handelsvereinigung fr Marktwirtschaft (Stufe

Lebensmitteleinzelhandel), CMA Centrale Marketing-Gesellschaft der deutschen

Agrarwirtschaft mbH (fr die Kommunikation mit dem Verbraucher)

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1. Approval of certification organizations:

BLE may, in accordance with a certification organization's application, restrict that

organization to performing certification in only one certain state.

1.1 Application and approval procedures.

1.2 Certification agency preconditions: Must meet basic personnel and equipment

requirements.

German certification organizations are by no means limited to nonprofit

organizations, and organic farming associations do not perform certification. German

certification organizations are consequently all for-profit enterprises. The statutory

executive or principal of a certification organization must possess an M.S. in

agricultural science (Dipl.-Ing. Agr.) or an equivalent academic background, many

years of organic agricultural experience, and a basic understanding of corporate

organization, administration, accounting, quality management, and law (especially the

EU Organic Regulation).

While the qualifications of certification personnel may vary due to certification

organizations different areas of certification, all must possess relevant academic

backgrounds, licenses, or national examination credentials. Certification personnel in a

specific area may perform certification work only in that area.

1.3 Certification organization working documents: Standard contracts with operators

receiving certification, sanctions, and handling principles.

1.4Sufficient insurance coverage: A certification organization must purchase insurance

reflecting the amount of risk to comply with the requirements of EN45011 (4.2h).

Neither the federal government nor any Lnder government shall underwrite the

damage liability obligations of a certification organization.

1.5 Responsibilities of certification personnel: Certification personnel shall be approved

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by BLE, and shall be supervised by each state authority. A certification organization

shall bear responsibility for the work of its certification personnel.

1.6 Areas of certification: BLE shall approve a certification organization's specific

certification area in accordance with the standard certification proposal and

manpower and technical capabilities in the quality management handbook submitted

by the certification organization. Certification areas are specified in Annex 3 of the

EU Organic Regulation; see section 3.1 below for an explanation of certification

areas.

1.7 Certification organization code numbers: Taking DE-999-ko-Kontrollstelle as an

example, DE indicates Germany, 999 is a serial number, and ko-Kontrollstelle

means "organic-certification organization."

2. The government imposes the following requirements on approved certification

organizations:2.1 Maintenance of certification capability: Certification personnel working in

certification areas A1, A, B, C, and/or E shall complete at least 20 full certification

cases each year, and shall submit proof to the respective Lnder government

authority.

2.2 Inspection of certification personnel work: In order to minimize risk, the Lnder

government authority shall inspect the ability, experience, and reliability of said

personnel on a random basis in conjunction with certification tasks.

2.3 On-site inspection of certification organizations: The BLE shall perform an on-site

inspection when a certification organization application is received. Lnder

government authorities are afterwards responsible for inspecting each certification

organization once each year whenever possible, and may also implement supervision

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via certification procedures.

3. Registration of certified enterprises:

3.1 Registration:

Enterprises shall fill out the attached form and submit it to the local Lnder

government authority for registration. When the enterprise and certification

organization have signed the contract, the certification organization shall issue the

enterprise a serial number that may be used for marking purposes.

Enterprise serial numbers consist of five sets of characters; taking D-BW-099-

09999-A as an example, D indicates Germany; BW is an abbreviation of the Lnder

name (Germanys 16 Lnders each have their own abbreviation), 099 is a certification

organization code, 09999 is the enterprise's serial number, and A is the certification

area. An enterprise can apply for certification in one or more areas. Certification areas

include:

A: Agricultural production; A1 is for plant products, A2 is for animal products; if not

specified, the enterprise produces both crops and livestock.

B: Processing

C: Importing (internal transport within the European Union is not considered

import/export)

D: Enterprises engaging in production, preparation, or import fully or partially on

behalf of other parties

E: Animal feed processing

H: Storage industry (this new area was added on July 1, 2005), including wholesalers

3.2 Termination of certification contract and change of certification agency.

4. Certification of enterprises: A certification agency shall implement certification tasks in

accordance with the standard certification proposal approved by the BLE.

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4.1 General requirements: On-site inspection of enterprises and their relevant documents

and records. Inspection records; apart from routine annual inspections, at least 10% of

all farms shall be inspected annually on a random basis.

4.2 Requirements for each certification area.

5. Reporting obligations of certification organizations:

5.1 Annual reports

5.2 Reports of extraordinary incidents

6. Resolution of appeals:

6.1 Enterprise appeals to certification organizations: A certification organization shall

determine procedures for handling certification-related appeals.

6.2 Certification personnel appeals to certification organizations: A certification

organization shall determine procedures for resolving differences of opinion

concerning certification on the parts of certification personnel and certification

executive personnel; cases shall be forwarded to the state authority for resolution if

agreement cannot be reached.

Appendix:

A. Certification organization application form

B. Minimum requirements made of the standard certification proposal of a certification

organization

C. Certification personnel experience and educational history form

D. Model enterprise registration form

E. Model certification work report

F. Registration procedures for certification personnel

Apart from complying with the foregoing Private Certification Organization Approval

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Procedure Rules, German certification organizations must also comply with EN45011 or

ISO65 safety management standards (general requirements of organizations implementing

food certification systems); however, in accordance with Article 9, Point 11 of the EU Organic

Regulation, certification organizations do not need to be "accredited."

Germany's Lnder governments and the BLE cooperate and maintain contact with each

other in order to strengthen supervision mechanisms and ensure consistent supervision

standards. The Lnder governments and the BLE have therefore organized the Lnder

Government Joint Organic Work Team (Lnder-Arbeitsgemeinschaft zur Verordnung (EWG)

Nr.2092/91 ber den kologischen Landbau, abbreviated LK) and have determined the

"Certification Organization Supervision Rules" (Leitlinien zur berwachung der

Kontrollstellen) (LK, 2004). The Supervision Rules generally follow the EU Organic

Regulation, Germany's Organic Law, and the BLE's Private Certification Organization

Approval Procedure Rules. The Supervision Rules clearly specify the various tasks to be

implemented by the BLE and state authorities, and working timetables, and include three

appendices for the reference of state authorities:

1. A model checklist for joint certification or follow-up certification: Joint certification,

accompanied unit, and personnel data; certified enterprise data; and inspection of the

inspection tasks performed by the accompanied certification personnel. Checklists include

both general inspection checklists and inspection checklists for each certification area.

2. Model certification organization office inspection checklist (not yet produced)

3. Model registration form for certification visits

It can be seen from the list of German and Taiwanese organic products management

regulations in that Taiwan also has Organic Agricultural Product Certification Organization

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Approval Operating Procedures, the content of which mainly describes the documents a

certification organization must prepare at time of application, and approval items and

processes. Taiwan currently has three approved certification organizations, one unapproved

organization, and one organization still in the application process. With regard to supervision

of certification organizations, although the Organic Agricultural Product Management

Operating Guidelines specify that certification organizations are subject to government

evaluation, the government does not yet actually inspect certification organizations or

supervise their certification work. While the Agriculture and Food Agency Agricultural

Materials Section performs a simple rating of certification organizations when allocating

subsidies, the rating items only address certification area and product pesticide residue

monitoring results. The unfairness of rating items weights certainly deserves discussion. It is

therefore true that the Taiwan government is not obligated to supervise certification

organizations.

As for the approval and evaluation of certification personnel in Germany, the BMVEL

has entrusted the "Conference of Certification Organizations" (Konfernz der Kontrollstellen

e.V., abbreviated KdK) and Organic Agriculture Research Institute (Forschungsinstitut fr

biologischen Landbau, abbreviated FiBL) (Weber et al., 2002) with formulating certification

personnel qualification requirements on the basis of the EU Organic Regulation. That study

found that supervision of certification personnel and approval procedures are very important.

Certification personnel requirements may include:

1. Occupational abilities: academic attainment, professional training, job experience

2. Professional abilities: certification ability in certification areas of responsibility

3. Language and communication skills

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4. Personal qualities

5. Objectivity

6. Further education

7. Evaluations or examinations

Taiwan's Organic Agricultural Product Management Operating Guidelines are not at all

thorough in specifying the qualifications of certification personnel. Although organic

regulations explicitly state that certification personnel shall have passed training and

examination administered by a training organization commissioned by the COA, this

requirement has not yet been implemented. There are consequently no approval procedures

for organic certification personnel in Taiwan, and there are no certification personnel and

evaluation regulations.

Risk Management

Data Management

The EU Organic Regulation specifies that each country shall authorize one organization

to receive data reported by operators, and that this organization must guarantee that it shall

provide the most up-to-date lists of enterprises certified for interested parties, including the

enterprises' names and addresses (EU Organic Regulation 8.2, 8.3).

The EU Organic Regulation (especially in Annex 3), Germany's Organic Law, and

relevant rules specify the records that must be kept by certified enterprises, certification

organizations, Lnder government authorities, and the federal government authority, as well

as items that must be reported by upper-level agencies. And beyond specifying items to be

recorded and the obligation of recording parties to accept inspection, the foregoing laws and

regulations also specify confidentiality and notification duties.

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The goal of recording and reporting information is to ensure traceability of products

throughout the entire production chain and ensure compliance with the requirements of laws

and regulations.

While some certification organizations in Germany have internal data management

systems, there are not yet any connections between the systems of different organizations, and

the organizations do not allow external queries. In order to provide the public with

information concerning certified enterprises, Germany's BMVEL provides an online list of

certified organic enterprises (Internet-Verzeichnis kontrolliert Unternehmen des kologischen

Landbaus; http: //www.bioc.info); the system currently includes organic operators approved

by the national certification systems of Germany, Austria, and Luxembourg. Nine German

certification organizations participate in this system; there is data on 9,885 certified organic

enterprises, including farms, processing plants, and importers.

The primary goals of this system include:1. Providing quick and convenient data queries

2. Safeguarding quality

3. Avoiding falsified data

4. Providing the most up-to-date information

Germany's Organic Logo Act governs the Organic Logo's usage, prohibition of use,

authorization, punishments, fines, and revocation. The Organic Logo Format and Usage

Regulations contain five articles respectively governing the Organic Logo's format, usage

(permitted use of the logo on packaging or unpackaged products, in advertising, and by the

science), application for use, violations, and implementation. While the Organic Logo Format

and Usage Regulations specify that use of the logo is free and not compulsory, those persons

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to wish to use the Organic Logo must register with the organic logo information center of the

Organic Logo Company (die Informationsstelle Bio-Siegel bei der ko-Prfzeichen GmbH)

commissioned by the BMVEL before they may print the logo on product packaging. A total of

29,466 products from 1,410 enterprises had been registered as of August 30, 2005. The goal

of Organic Logo registration is to understand the state of Organic Logo usage and avoid illicit

use of the logo. Registration is therefore a type of risk management.

To avoid the spread of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease), the

European Union instituted a tracking system for cattle and beef on January 1, 1998. Under the

system, cattle are given identical markings on both ears to express their serial numbers.

Barcodes may also be hung on the animals' ears. Each animal has a passport recording its data

births, sex, variety, and mother's ear number. Each animal is also assigned a slaughter number

when it is slaughtered. The slaughter numbers and cattle numbers are recorded at a data

center. All livestock have been required to be registered in the "Livestock Source Safety and

Information System"3 (Herkunftssicherungs- und Informationssystem fr Tiere, abbreviated

HIT) since September 26, 1999. Registration methods include use of paper registration forms,

phone registration, and online registration.

Taiwan's Organic Agriculture Information Website established an "Organic Agriculture

Certification Management Information System" as early as 2001 in accordance with Point

10.6 of Taiwan's Organic Agricultural Product Management Operating Guidelines concerning

"real-time updating of relevant certification data management system data." Certification

organizations had input data for 820 farms as of August 2005; this number is not far from

Taiwan's current total of 866 certified organic farms. However, since the government stopped

requesting data from certification organizations after organic certification management duties

3 http://www.hi-tier.de/

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were transferred from the Agricultural Production Section of the COA to the Agriculture and

Food Agency in 2003, the data in the foregoing system is incomplete. While the Agriculture

and Food Agency's Agricultural Materials Section has recently realized the importance of a

data management system, and designed a certification management system in 2005, the COA

Information Section has somewhat inexplicably established its own internal certification

organization information management system. The overlap between the two certification data

management systems will only complicate future integration efforts.

Whether or not Taiwan's certification management information system is successful, and

whether or not its data is correct, up-to-date, and continuous, will depend on the amount of

importance attached to it by government, and government's determination to request correct,

up-to-date data from certification organizations.

A.Quality Monitoring

Certification of enterprises is an important mechanism for protecting the quality and

safety of organic products. Certification primarily consists of enterprise inspection, document

inspection, and, when necessary, chemical analysis of specimens.

However, third party monitoring is still needed to test or prove that products meet

requirements. The goal of quality monitoring is to verify product quality to consumers while

also lessening the occurrence of fraud or violations.Although Germany has not established a special monitoring system for organic products,

Lnder governments monitor organic products via general food quality monitoring systems

and processes required by law.

The state of Baden-Wurttemberg began implementing a five-year continuous organic

product quality monitoring program in June 2001, and issued research reports resulting from

this program in 2002, 2003, and 2004. The primary intent of this program is to gain a better

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understanding of consumers' disappointments with organic products in this expanding market

niche, and increase consumers' confidence in the quality of organic foods (Chemischesund

Veterinruntersuchungsamt Stuttgart., 2003). The program's content includes:

1. Determining the state of pesticide residues and contaminants in organic foods.

2. Comparing domestic and foreign organic products.

3. Investigating the improper marking of organic foods.

4. Comparing organic and general everyday foods.

Monitoring items include:

1. Genetic modification of crop products

2. Radiation exposure

3. Mycotoxin

4. Antibiotics in honey

5. Nitrate content

6. Organic chlorine and organic bromine contamination of animal products

7. Dioxin

8. Pesticide residues in crop products

9. Ochratoxin A and copper in alcoholic beverages

Apart from government monitoring of the quality of foods (including organic foods),

private enterprises also perform internal quality monitoring of their products. Furthermore,

Germany's federal Natural Foods and Natural Products Association (Bundesverbnds

Naturkost Naturwaren, abbreviated BNN) began an organic vegetable and fruit monitoring

program in 2003. Under this program, 250 pesticide residue tests were performed on 475

samples of organic fruits and vegetables taken from wholesale and retail stores in 2003. A

total of 28 wholesalers and importers participate in this program. The program's primary goal

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is to ensure that the quality of organic products purchased by participants and sold by their

subordinate retail stores (chain stores) meets expectations.

As for the monitoring of organic product quality in Taiwan, the Agricultural Materials

Section of the Agriculture and Food Agency is responsible for monitoring the quality of non-

rice crops, while the Food Production Section of the Agriculture and Food Agency is

responsible for monitoring rice quality. The former announces quality monitoring results on a

monthly basis on the Organic Agriculture Information Website. Monitoring items chiefly

consist of pesticide residues and the regulation requirement of no detectable pesticide

residues. Samples are taken from fields and from store shelves. Tested samples include both

certified organic products and uncertified but claimed organic products. Regardless of

whether samples meet or fails to meet requirements, all announced data includes the

producer's name, certification organization, and amount of pesticide residues4. The brand and

store are also announced when a tested sample is an on-the-shelf product. Quality monitoring

has been implemented for 16 months to date, and has yielded the results shown in . The data

indicates that products from producers certified by a COA-approved certification organization

have significantly lower levels of pesticide residues than other products. Furthermore, the

number of cases of pesticide residues failing to meet requirements this year have dropped

significantly relative to last year (2004).

Table 2 Taiwan Organic Agricultural Product Quality Monitoring Results *

4 The Agriculture Chemicals and Toxic Substances Research Institute, COA tested organicproducts for a total of 165 pesticide residue items as of August 2005.

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state's Bureau of Food and Hunting in North Rhine-Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen,

NRW) (Das Landesamt fr Ernhrungswirtschaft und Jagd, abbreviated LEJ) is the state' s

organic industry management authority. LEJ has set a joint and follow-up certification ratio of

5%. LEJ feels that this 5% should not be spread evenly across all certification organizations,

and also should not be allocated according to the number of certified enterprises under each

certification organization, but should rather be allocated in accordance with risk. Table 3

explains the risk factors and weighting used by LEJ; Taiwan can learn from this approach.

LEJ uses a risk calculation formula to determine how the 5% of organic enterprises should be

allocated among certification organizations when performing joint or follow-up certification.

As for the selection of farms for joint or follow-up certification, a risk-oriented outlook

is used to select the following enterprises:

1. Enterprises that have changed certification organizations2. Newly-certified enterprises

3. Enterprises that simultaneously handle both organic and ordinary products

4. Enterprises with extraordinary approval

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http://dict.tu-chemnitz.de/dings.cgi?o=3003;style=;iservice=en-de;query=Northhttp://dict.tu-chemnitz.de/dings.cgi?o=3003;style=;iservice=en-de;query=Rhine-Westphaliahttp://dict.tu-chemnitz.de/dings.cgi?o=3003;style=;iservice=en-de;query=Rhine-Westphaliahttp://dict.tu-chemnitz.de/dings.cgi?o=3003;style=;iservice=en-de;query=North

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Table 3 Certification Risk Factors

Factor Weight ExplanationNumber of certified enterprises 3 The more certifications the greater the risk.Ratio of personnel with a lownumber of certifications

2 The fewer the certifications, the less certificationability and quality.

Ratio of personnel with a highnumber of certifications

1 The higher the number of certifications, the greaterthe risk of oversights or incomplete certification.

Ratio of new certificationpersonnel

3 Due to insufficient experience, new personnel aremore prone to errors and uncertainties.

Certification organizationsupervision results

3 Score from LEJ's joint certification and follow-upcertification evaluation during the previous year.

Source: LK. 2004.

Furthermore, Germany's BMVEL commissioned a resource protection company

(Gesellschaft fr Ressourcenschutz mbH) (2003) to perform a research project aimed at

finding the certification system's weaknesses and risk factors (this project issued the research

report "Analyse der Schwachstellen in der Kontrolle nach EU-Verordnung 2092/91 und

Erarbeitung von Vorschlgen zur Weiterentwicklung der Zertifizierungs- und Kontrollsysteme

im Bereich des klogischen Landbaus"). The project examined possible risk during all stages

from production to the consumer, including agricultural production, processing, shipment,

sale, import, and retail. After analyzing the sources of product risk, the project submitted

recommendations concerning how the certification system can reduce risk.

Since the government of Taiwan has no mechanisms for supervising certification

organizations, certification personnel, and certified enterprises, it has no risk-oriented

supervision similar to that of Germany. Taiwan still has some distance to go before it can

analyze risk during the movement of organic products from producers to consumers.

Crisis Handling

Although Germany has sound certification mechanisms, this certainly doesn't mean that

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the country has never had any violations of regulations or substandard products appearing on

the market.

If a private certification agency or Lnder government authority discovers that a certified

enterprise has committed a violation, and if the circumstances are not severe, the certification

agency may handle the matter in accordance with its internal rules and contract with the

enterprise. If an enterprise or certification organization commits severe violation of the EU

Organic Regulation, the state authority shall handle the matter, and may impose a maximum

punishment of one year imprisonment in accordance with the Organic Agriculture Law. The

maximum punishment for failure to fill out or submit records in a timely manner is a fine of

30,000 euros, however.

But regardless of the severity of a violation, whenever food or animal feed causes a

threat to human health, necessary notification must be performed in accordance with the

regulations of Chapter 4 "Rapid Warning System" of European Union 178/2002 Regulation

(EC) No 178/2002 "Laying down the General Principles and Requirements of Food Law,

Establishing the European Food Safety Authority and Laying down Procedures in Matters of

Food Safety" (EEC, 2002). The German standard information system (Standardisiertes

Informationssystem in Deutschland) prescribes that completed notification forms must state

the notifying organization, the organization being notified, the product, the source, the

violation, the handling situation, and other information.

Taiwan has no early warning system for foods. Although the Agriculture and Food

Agency monitors the quality of organic products, it is not the agency responsible for food

sanitation. Since there are no laws governing organic products, any product can claim to be an

organic product. However, if any agency regardless of whether a food management unit or

the Agriculture and Food Agency detects pesticide residues in an organic product on the

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market or sample taken at an organic farm, then a violation of the Organic Agricultural

Product Management Operating Guidelines has occurred. The certification organization will

generally attempt to find out the reason for the pesticide residues; if the reason is the use of

pesticides, then the producer's organic status is revoked. If the producer did not intentionally

use pesticides, however, and the residues are due to contamination or contamination of

production materials, then the product shall be temporarily prohibited from being sold as an

organic product.

But no matter what the circumstances, the government can only deal with organic

agricultural products in which pesticide residues have been detected in accordance with the

Department of Health Food Sanitation Management Act's "Permissible Residual Pesticide

Standards." The producers or sellers are not punished if no prohibited pesticides are detected,

or if the concentration of pesticide residues does not exceed the permissible standard. A case

is turned over to the county or city government for legal action only when there has been a

violation of the Food Sanitation Management Act.

Taiwan has no Organic Agriculture Law, and therefore cannot fine or punish violations of

organic regulations. This lack of management is destined to disappoint consumers whenever a

crisis occurs, and is the most serious shortcoming of Taiwan's organic agriculture

management system.

Conclusions

Because consumers feel that organic products can ensure the safety of their food, the

public strongly hopes that government can adequately manage the quality of organic products.

The EU Organic Regulation and Germany's Organic Agriculture Law provide very clear

guidelines concerning the organic supervision system. Moreover, Germany's Private

Certification Organization Approval Procedure Rules and Certification Organization

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Supervision Rules provide further regulations governing certification organizations.

Taiwan's certification system lacks any regulations governing the supervision of

certification organizations and approval and supervision of certification personnel; this

shortcoming urgently requires corrective action. It is now up to the government to implement

two requirements stated in the current organic regulations: Certification personnel must be

required to receive professional training and pass an examination; certification organizations

must be required to update the data in the Certification Data Management Systems.

The government of Taiwan delegates the management of organic agriculture to three

departments, which makes it impossible to unify duties and powers. In addition, the absence

of local (city or county) government in the management system weakens supervision. These

facts are certainly worthy of review and discussion.

Taiwan performs monthly monitoring of organic products and announces the results of

monitoring. This action has significantly reduced the pesticide residue detection rate, and alsoexerted a deterrent effect on unscrupulous producers and sellers who might try to sell

substandard products. Germany has no nationwide, specific organic product quality

monitoring program, but the state of Baden-Wrtenburg tests organic products for many

substances of concern to consumers, such as nitrates, dioxin, and mycotoxin; Taiwan should

consider emulating this approach.

As far as risk management is concerned, Germany's Certification Organization

Supervision Rules require that Lnder governments perform on-site inspections of

certification organizations' certification work. Joint certification and follow-up certification

are risk-oriented, and certification organizations are required to employ risk-oriented

certification procedures. Taiwan's government and certification organizations should emulate

these aspects.

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Taiwan's organic agriculture certification system is gradually achieving a state of

maturity after many years of hard work. Moreover, certification organizations and the

certification logo are gradually winning consumers' confidence. Nevertheless, the lack of

relevant management laws and punitive sanctions has left uncertified domestic and imported

organic foods outside the scope of government regulation. This has tarnished the dedication

and achievements of government and certification organizations. As a consequence, it is

urgent that the government enact laws governing organic agriculture and imported organic

products in order to protect the rights and interests of both producers and consumers.

Reference

Council of Agriculture, Organic Agriculture Regulations, 2004.

BLE. 2003. Leitlinien zum Zulassungsverfahren der privaten Kontrollstellen.BMVEL. 2001. Gesetz zur Einfhrung und Verwendung eines Kennzeichens fr Erzeugnisse

des kologischen Landbaus.

BMVEL. 2002a. Gesetz zum kologischen landbau,

BMVEL. 2002b. Verordnung zur Gestltung und Verwendung des ko-Kennzeichens.

BNN Herstellung und Handel e.V. 2004, Bestnoten fr Obst und Gemse aus Bioanbau.

Chemisches und Veterinruntersuchungsamt Stuttgart. 2003. komonitoring 2003.

EEC. 2002. Regulation (EC) No 178/2002. Laying down the General Principles and

Requirements of Food Law, Establishing the European Food Safety Authority and

Laying down Procedures in Matters of Food Safety.

EEC. 2004. Council Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91 on Organic Production of Agricultural

Products and Indications Referring thereto on Agricultural Products and Foodstuffs.

Gesellschaft fr Ressourcenschutz mbH. 2003. Analyse der Schawchestellen in der Kontrolle

nach EU-Verordnung 2092/91 und Erarbeitung von Vorschlgen zur Weiterentwicklung

der Zertifizierungs- und Kontrollsysteme im Bereich des kologischen Landbaus.

BMVEL.

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LK. 2004. Leitlinien zur berwachung der Kontrollstellen.

Neuendorff, Jochen. 2003. Kennzeichnung und Kontrolle. EG-Verordnung kolandbau -

Eine einfhrende Erluterung mit Beispielen. Ministerium fr Umwelt und Naturschutz,

Landwirtschaft und Verbaucherschutz des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen.

SL. 2004. Anteil der verbandsgebundenen Betriebe an den gesamten ko-Betriebeb,

http: //www.soel.de.

Weber, Helmut, Jochen Neundorff, Julia Meier, Rolf Mder, and Beate Huber. 2002.

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