{"id":102,"date":"2026-07-11T07:05:51","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T07:05:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/organic-consumers.com\/organic-standards-australia\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T01:55:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T01:55:30","slug":"organic-standards-australia","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/organic-consumers.com\/index.php\/organic-standards-australia\/","title":{"rendered":"Organic Standards &amp; Certification in Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-page\" data-elementor-id=\"102\" class=\"elementor elementor-102\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-2682d1a e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"2682d1a\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-021d0b7 elementor-widget elementor-widget-video\" data-id=\"021d0b7\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;youtube_url&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/youtu.be\\\/cq0N2SzXIUg?si=nKVYX7mZFo0b2Vgi&quot;,&quot;autoplay&quot;:&quot;yes&quot;,&quot;video_type&quot;:&quot;youtube&quot;,&quot;controls&quot;:&quot;yes&quot;}\" data-widget_type=\"video.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-wrapper elementor-open-inline\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-video\"><\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-6db36397 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"6db36397\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-31f79ac2 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"31f79ac2\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Organic standards in Australia are generally high and well regarded, both domestically and in export markets. But the regulation and application of those standards is poorly understood, far from straightforward, and under constant commercial pressure to weaken.<\/p><p><strong>There is no specific regulatory system for organic food in Australia.<\/strong> The word \u201corganic\u201d can legally appear on a product sold domestically without any third-party verification.<\/p><h2>The three standards<\/h2><h3>1. The National Standard for Organic and Bio-Dynamic Produce<\/h3><p>Owned by the federal Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF). Certification to it is <strong>required for export<\/strong> \u2014 and can only be applied by certification bodies accredited by the department. Launched in 1992, it has been used for three decades as a de facto reference standard, but <strong>it has no legal authority in the domestic market<\/strong>.<\/p><h3>2. The AS6000<\/h3><p>Operated by Standards Australia. First published 2007; current version 2015. Certification to it is not mandatory, but <strong>it is the standard most likely to be referenced by the ACCC or by Australian courts.<\/strong> It does not satisfy DAFF\u2019s requirements for export.<\/p><p>The AS6000 emerged after a major organic fraud case in 2007, when fines applied by the ACCC were used by the Organic Federation of Australia to encourage its development, along with the MP100 control document.<\/p><h3>3. ACOS \u2014 the Australian Certified Organic Standard<\/h3><p>A private standard, owned and maintained by Australian Organic Ltd and used by ACO Certification Ltd. Until 2025 there were two private standards in wide use; <strong>with the collapse of NASAA Certified Organic, ACOS is now the only one.<\/strong><\/p><h2>Why this matters to you<\/h2><p>All food sold in Australia and New Zealand must be labelled in accordance with the Food Standards Code (FSANZ). Organic claims must be true, and false claims can be prosecuted by the ACCC or under state consumer law.<\/p><p>But the system as it stands is close to impenetrable for consumers. Products may be described as \u201ccertified\u201d, \u201cpermitted\u201d, or \u201callowed\u201d \u2014 terms with no definition in legislation. Where certification bodies grant <strong>derogations<\/strong> (exemptions from the standard), the update logs are often not publicly accessible, and may not be known even to competing producers of similar goods.<\/p><h2>What OCAA wants<\/h2><p><strong>One standard.<\/strong> OCAA supports replacing the export-only function of the National Standard with a new, upgraded AS6000 that serves both export and domestic markets.<\/p><p>We also call for:<\/p><ul><li><strong>Separation of functions<\/strong> \u2014 standard-setting, inspection\/audit, and certification should be independent of one another.<\/li><li><strong>Independent, qualified inspectors<\/strong> bound by a professional code of ethics separate from the certification bodies.<\/li><li><strong>Transparency in certification decisions<\/strong>, including all derogations.<\/li><li><strong>An end to synthetic inputs by derogation<\/strong> \u2014 including synthetic methionine in poultry feed.<\/li><li><strong>Support for growers converting to organic<\/strong>, delivered by an independent authority rather than by certification bodies.<\/li><\/ul><p>Until this happens, the domestic organic sector cannot properly protect Australian consumers or honest organic producers.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Australia has three organic standards and no domestic regulator. Here is what that means for consumers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_angie_page":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-102","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Organic Standards &amp; Certification in Australia - Organic Consumers Association of Australia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/organic-consumers.com\/index.php\/organic-standards-australia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Organic Standards &amp; Certification in Australia - Organic Consumers Association of Australia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Australia has three organic standards and no domestic regulator. 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