The IOAS (formerly, International Organic Accreditation Service) has lifted the ban on Control Union (CU) India for GOTS, Textile Exchange and ISO/IEC 17065 accreditation.
- The IOAS had in March this year suspended the accreditation of CU Inspections & Certifications India Pvt Ltd [Control Union (India), for short] from testing and sampling of Indian organic textile products on charges of irregularities committed in its certification process.
Immediate Reaction: Textile Exchange welcomed the announcement that the IOAS has lifted the suspension of CU India’s accreditation to all Textile Exchange standards effective 17 May.
- CU India can now resume all certification activities related to Textile Exchange standards, including (but not limited to) issuing transaction certificates for certified products shipped while the suspension was in place.
Word of Caution: Textile exchange remarked in a statement, "Certification bodies may only issue transaction certificates for products shipped during the validity of the scope certificate they issued and therefore, they do not issue transaction certificates for products shipped under the validity of a scope certificate issued by another certification body. However, when an organization transfers between certification bodies (from the “preceding certification body” to the “succeeding certification body”, including when the transfer occurs at recertification), the succeeding certification body may issue transaction certificates for shipments from the time when the organization was certified with the preceding certification body, provided that all the conditions of calibration# 229 are met. Please contact your certification body for more information."
THE BACKDROP:
- In April 2022, Control Union Certifications India wrote to its clients in India to say it was delisting cotton from its certification programmes, and that they would need to find other certification avenues by 15 May.
- In October 2022, the IOAS withdrew Biocert International's IFOAM and ISO/IEC 17065 accreditations and the recommendation for accreditations for COR (Canada Organic Regime) and European Union accreditation.
- On 3 March 2023, IOAS suspended the accreditation of CU India for ISO/IEC 17065 (all scopes), GOTS (all scopes) and Textile Exchange (all scopes) and recommended suspension under COR (Canada Organic Regime) for CAN/CGSB-32.312 (all categories) and grower group certification, following an unsuccessful appeal.
