Quebec recently announced that effective January 1, 2012, it will adopt the Canadian Organic Standards and harmonize labeling requirements between the former provincial standard and the Canadian national standard. Quebec’s labeling requirements are similar to the existing Canadian Organic Standards but have additional details and specificity. To simplify clients processes, CCOF will remove the Quebec compliance program from the existing Global Market Access program in the coming months. We will then notate any unique labeling requirements that apply only to Quebec in our Guide to Labeling Products Sold as Organic in Canada; however, there will be no need to maintain or verify specific product-byproduct compliance with Quebec’s standards. This aspect of the GMA program will be eliminated in early 2012.
