3. Products subject to an accredited certifier’s audit
3.1 Products that must be certified by an accredited certifier
3.1.1 All tangible products resulting from organic agriculture, destined to be sold on the Québec territory and within the scope determined by the CARTV shall be subject to certification leading to a compliance certificate issued by an accredited certifier or when these products come from outside of Québec, by a certifier whose program has been recognized by the CARTV. The certificate shall be issued to the operator responsible for these production or processing operations, as applicable. All products containing at least 70% organic ingredients, excluding water (H2O) and salt (NaCl), must be certified.
3.1.2 A food product that contains organic ingredients may only be certified if at least 70% of the ingredients used during processing or repackaging operations have been previously certified by a CARTV-accredited certifier or appear on the list of accredited bodies published by the CFIA, provided that all of the organic ingredients present in the product are only in organic form.
3.2 Products that require verification by an accredited certifier
3.2.1 Cosmetics and personal care products whose label mentions the “organic” term or one of its derivatives shall be subject to verification by a certification body when they are destined to be sold on the Québec territory. The body shall issue a certificate to the manufacturer confirming that the agricultural ingredients in its product have been certified organic, as long as each organic ingredient present in the product is only in organic form.
3.2.2 Food products containing 70% or more organic ingredients are eligible for an ingredient verification certificate, instead of an organic compliance certificate, if the CARTV Organic Standards Committee, in its response to an application submitted for this purpose, has declared that this aforementioned product could not be granted an organic compliance certificate because "it would be impossible to prepare it in a manner compliant with these organic preparation standards, given the current state of technology."
3.2.3 Labelling, advertising and commercial documents related to products subject to verification must meet the labelling regulations stipulated in Part 3, Section 9.3.3 of these standards.
3.3 Products that require approval by an accredited certifier
3.3.1 Inputs, substances that by nature are neither agricultural nor food products and are used in the organic production process, yet do not remain in the resulting products (e.g., manure), must be approved by an accredited certifier and may be granted a certificate confirming that they have been "approved for organic agriculture or organic processing." The labelling, advertising and commercial documents relating to these inputs must meet the labelling regulations stipulated in Part 3, Section 9.5.1 of these standards.
3.3.2 Services (intangible products) provided by a supplier at the request of a client, in order to fulfill one step in the total production of a tangible product to ensure or maintain its organic integrity, must be approved by an accredited certifier, if the aforementioned tangible product is subject to certification. The service provider may obtain a certificate from the certifier confirming that the services offered have been "approved for organic... (identification of type of service)." Labelling, advertising and commercial documents related to the description of these services must meet the labelling regulations stipulated in Part 3, Section 9.5.1 of these standards.
3.3.3 Slaughtering services for organic animals, except for cutting, shall be subject to a memorandum of understanding between the user and the company providing these services, whenever the company does not hold any approval certificate issued by an accredited certification body. The contents of this agreement shall comply with the requirements set out in Section 6.10.5 of the specification manual pertaining to livestock production, covered in the Québec Organic Reference Standards.
3.4 Certifiable products being exempt from certification, approval or verification
3.4.1 Until further notice, prepared and cooked dishes presented in the form of meals offered to consumers in individual portions (ready-to-serve), at locations designated for this purpose, and sold with the claim that they are organic, are not subject to certification. This exception excludes pre-packaged meals, either frozen or chilled, that are sold in stores as a result of a planned preparation process.
3.4.2 Processed products containing less than 70% of organic ingredients are not subject to certification or ingredient verification. For this category of product, the use of the term “organic” or any other derivative term is prohibited everywhere except in the ingredient panel included in the product label, on which ingredients may be identified as organic.
3.4.3 Establishments that prepare and market eligible products exempt from certification may nevertheless be subject to an inspection by a CARTV supervisory agent, in order to ensure that the claims used are truthful.
