KOREA AND NOP EQUIVALENCY ARRANGEMENT
On July 1 2014, the National Organic Program (NOP) and the Korea’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA), signed a bilateral Equivalency Arrangement. The Arrangement is similar to the US-EU Equivalency Arrangement, however, the scope of the arrangement is limited to Processed Products and products with greater than 95% organic content only. This partnership eliminates significant trade barriers and reduces the paperwork burden for farmers and businesses wishing to export organic products to Korea.
OTCO Certified Operations in the U.S. can export NOP certified products to Korea that:
- Are “processed products” as defined by the Korean Food Code
- Contain at least 95 percent organic ingredients
- Have their final processing occur in the United States
- Do not contain apples and pears produced with the use of antibiotics
- US NOP products must be labeled according to MAFRA’s organic labeling requirements and may display the Korean organic food label and/or USDA organic seal
- Korean products for import must be verified not to contain livestock products produced with the use of antibiotics
Exporting to the Korea- International Trade Documents
Every shipment of product exported to Korea requires a transaction document called a NAQS Import Certificate. The NAQS is a load specific document that must be present in order for the product to clear customs.
Every NOP Import Certificate signed by the Korean certifier of the supplier must accompany shipment of product imported from Korea.
Products exported to Korea that are outside the scope of the Equivalency Arrangements, such as raw unprocessed product or NOP certified products final processed in another country, must be certified to the Korea regulations.
Additional information is available on the NOP website: https://www.ams.usda.gov/services/organic-certification/international-trade/Korea
- Download NAQS Instructions
- Complete NAQS Request Form
Please send all export request documents to export@tilth.org