19.02.2021 | USDA terminates equivalence recognition of Indian organic control system The USDA recently announced that they will end the organic recognition agreement with India, a scheme that had been in place since 2006. In the future Indian organic operators will have to apply for direct certification by USDA-accredited certifiers to the USDA organic standards. Current organic operators that are certified by Indian APEDA-accredited certifiers are granted a transition period. By mid March 2021, USDA-accredited certifiers will be able to list on the Organic Integrity Database the organic operators in India that are applying for USDA approval. By 12 July 2021, APEDA-accredited operators will have to apply for certification with a USDA-accredited certifier and by 12 July 2022 they will have to have completed the certification in order to continue exporting to the US.