Cotton industry seeks govt-regulated process to end certification imbroglio

Move follows IOAS suspension of Control Union India from testing Indian organic textile products; entire value chain likely to be impacted as CU India handles 75% of certification of organic textiles

With concerns looming over the IOAS (International Organic Accreditation Service) order suspending Control Union (CU) India from testing and sampling Indian organic textile products, experts and some industry players are batting for a government-regulated certification process in organic textiles, similar to that of organic cotton.

On March 3, IOAS, an independent third-party accreditation body, suspended the accreditation of Control Union (India) from Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) certification, after it failed to comply with the applicable requirements specified by GOTS.

The suspension is expected to affect the entire value chain in the organic cotton segment as CU India handles 75 per cent of the volume in organic textiles. This suspension has also led to a situation among spinning mills, in which they have been forced to sell yarn certified by CU India before March 3, without a transaction certificate.

“In organic cotton, the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda) works as a monitoring agency. However, for ginning, spinning and yarning, no government agency is involved and the certification is done by GOTS and other private labels. Hence, the industry needs government monitoring or certification in the entire value chain of organic cotton,” said S Chandrasekaran, trade policy analyst.

According to sources, the government is also looking at revamping the certification systems in the organic cotton sector, on which some 500,000-600,000 farmers are dependent. The other demands by the industry include notifying organic textile standards and implementation of an organic aadhaar for farmers, among others.

Following the demands from spinning mills, they were given an assurance by the agencies that all certificates issued prior to March 3 would be valid. However, the woes of spinning mills continue.

“The issue is when we manufacture yarn based on cotton certified by the Control Union, which will certify our transaction. That is the problem we are facing. We have started selling the yarn with a disclaimer that this yarn is made of cotton certified by CU India,” said K Venkatachalam, chief advisor, Tamil Nadu Spinning Mills Association (TASMA).

IOAS has given CU India the opportunity to develop a corrective action plan by the end of the temporary suspension on June 7.  
 

“CU India is following the procedure to provide all required documentation to fulfil the expectations of IOAS. The expectation is for the documents to be reviewed with priority, keeping the urgency of the matter and giving natural justice with law of parity to CU India for their good work over the last two decades. Once CU India hears success to regain the full accreditation process, clients will be notified for further actions to revive all your certification needs,” CU India said in a statement.

On the other hand, GOTS said that other than CU India, there are currently eight other approved certification bodies operating in India, through whom market demand can be met.

“The approach of IOAS is fundamental to the holistic implementation of GOTS and ensures all measures are taken to prevent non-conformities at every level. Until then, CU India is prohibited from accepting new applications, no certificates may be issued to new applications, and scope additions may not be issued to existing operators,” a GOTS statement said.  

Additionally, CU India is not permitted to issue Transaction Certificates (TCs). It may, however, renew existing Scope Certificates and Letters of Approval and TCs that were issued by it prior to the suspension. These will remain valid unless specifically withdrawn by CU India itself.

India produces 1.23 million metric tonnes (MT) of organic cotton, or 51 per cent of the global output of 2.4 MT.  The other major producing countries are China, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, Tajikistan, Tanzania, US, Uganda, Greece, Benin, Peru, Burkina Faso, Pakistan, Egypt, Ethiopia, Brazil, Mali and Argentina.

“A comprehensive review of the last two decade programme of organic agriculture reveals that we have just converted below one per cent of land into organic.  

Currently, we need an exclusive authority for natural and organic agriculture in addition to empowering agri graduates as organic auditor or inspector like chartered accountant or company secretary to bring down certification costs. The urgent need is to implement organic aadhar to ensure organic integrity before the season begins,” said Chandrasekaran.