Ministry of Commerce has implemented the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) since 2001. The objectives of NPOP are as under:

1)  To provide the means of evaluation of certification programme for organic agriculture and products (including wild harvest, aquaculture, livestock products) as per the approved criteria.

2)   To accredit certification programmes of Certification Bodies seeking accreditation.

3)   To facilitate certification of organic products in conformity with the prescribed standards.

4)   To facilitate certification of organic products in conformity with the importing countries organic standards as per equivalence agreement between the two countries or as per importing country requirements.

5)   To encourage the development of organic farming and organic processing.

The standards of Organic Crop Production have been described in Appendix 1 of Chapter 3 of NPOP document The production standards include crop production plan, conversion requirement, nutrient management, disease management etc for agricultural crops. There are no separate prescribed production standards for pulses.

The organic pulses certified under NPOP are being cultivated in the States of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Chattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh/Telengana, Gujarat, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, H.P, Odisha and Punjab.

The certified production of organic pulses under NPOP, including in conversion, for the last three years is as under:

Year	Production in MT
2013-14	39444.96
2014-15	34717.45
2015-16	39248.63

Source: APEDA

Any agricultural product certified as organic under NPOP has to be certified by an accredited certification body under NPOP for exports. As per the inspection and certification procedures as prescribed under chapter 4 clause 4.3 of the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) Document, the Certification Bodies accredited under NPOP conduct inspection before certifying the operators as organic.  After inspection and compliance to the requirement by the certified operators, certification decision is taken by the Certification Body and Scope Certificate is issued having a validity of one year.     

Organic products are traded only through issuance of Transaction Certificates (TCs) wherein the product identity and traceability is maintained. The TCs are also issued only by the accredited Certification Bodies. All the handlers of the product in the supply chain are required to be in the certification system under NPOP and need to obtain TC whenever the product is traded.

As prescribed under NPOP Chapter 4, clause 4.3.1.4 under Analysis and Residue Testing, the testing is to be carried out in ISO 17025 accredited and preferably APEDA approved laboratories. The list of APEDA approved laboratories is at Annexure-I

This information was given by the Commerce and Industry Minister  Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.

 

ANNEXURE-I

Sl. No.	Name of the Laboratory
1	First Source Laboratory Solutions LLP, Hyderabad
2	National Collateral Management Services Limited (NCML), Hyderabad
3	Intertek India Pvt. Ltd., Hyderabad
4	Vimta Labs Ltd. , Hyderabad
5	Accurate Laboratory, Ahmedabad
6	SGS India Pvt. Ltd., Ahmedabad
7	Testtex India Laboratories Pvt. Ltd., Rajkot
8	International Testing Centre, Panchkula
9	SGS India Pvt. Ltd. , Gurgaon
10	TUV Sud South Asia Pvt. Ltd. Gurgaon
11	Auriga Research Limited, Bangalore
12	Eurofins Analytical Services India Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore
13	Shriram Institute for Industrial Research, Bangalore
14	TUV Sud South Asia Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore
15	Interfield Laboratories, Kochi
16	Ashwamedh Engineers & Consultants, Nashik
17	Centre for Food Testing, Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University, Pune
18	Envirocare Labs Pvt. Ltd., Thane
19	Geo Chem Laboratories Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai
20	MAARC Labs Pvt. Ltd., Pune
21	MicroChem Silliker Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai
22	National Horticultural Research & Development Foundation (NHRDF), Pesticide Residue Analysis Laboratory, Nashik
23	Reliable Analytical Laboratories Pvt. Ltd., Thane
24	TUV India Pvt. Ltd., Pune
25	Choksi Laboratories Limited, Indore
26	Arbro Pharmaceuticals Limited, New Delhi
27	Delhi Test House, Delhi
28	Shriram Institute for Industrial Research, Delhi
29	Punjab Biotechnology Incubator (PBTI), SAS Nagar, Mohali
30	Chennai Mettex Lab Private Limited, Chennai
31	Mats India Private Limited, Chennai
32	Nawal Analytical Laboratories, Hosur
33	SGS India Pvt. Ltd., Chennai
34	T A Labs Private Limited, Chennai
35	SMS Labs Services Private Limited, Chennai
36	AES Laboratories (P) Ltd., Gautam Budha Nagar
37	DNA Testing Laboratory, Basmati Export Development Foundation (BEDF), Meerut
38	Edward Food Research & Analysis Centre Ltd. (EFRAC), Kolkata
39	SGS India Private Limited, Kolkata

Certification requirement: accredited bodies must inspect, issue annual scope certificates and ensure transaction-level traceability for organic products. Accreditation of Certification Bodies and operator certification under NPOP are required for organic designation and export; accredited bodies inspect operators, issue annual Scope Certificates, and authorized trade must be accompanied by Transaction Certificates preserving identity and traceability. Testing and residue analysis must be performed in ISO 17025 accredited, preferably APEDA-approved, laboratories.