OMRI Response to Agricultural Advisories

State agricultural agencies and other applicable authorities have the legal authority to regulate, within their respective jurisdictions, the sale of fertilizers, pesticides and other agricultural inputs. If products sold within the state or jurisdiction are determined to be in violation of their regulations, these agencies may issue an advisory notice or stop sale notification, and they may also communicate directly with OMRI if the identified products are OMRI Listed®.

OMRI’s focus is on the compliance of input products to the National Organic Program (NOP) and Canada Organic Regime (COR) standards. The scope of OMRI’s review does not require verification of product compliance to other federal, state or local regulations, such as relating to product safety or specific labeling requirements. However, OMRI’s policies may overlap with other regulations in some instances. Section §1.8 of the OMRI Policy Manual© states that:

OMRI does not verify any legal statuses outside the scope of NOP or COR, unless explicitly required by NOP or COR. OMRI recommends that product suppliers and users contact appropriate governing officials to determine which laws and regulations apply to specific products.

When evidence from an outside source indicates that a product may have been misrepresented, OMRI’s policies and procedures ensure that evidence of product misrepresentation is compared to product information submitted during reviews, which can lead to OMRI opening an investigation on a product. If OMRI conducts an investigation on any listed product, that product remains listed during the investigation in order to ensure that OMRI Listed suppliers are treated fairly and receive due process within our established policies and procedures. Investigations may require suppliers to submit additional documentation or undergo site inspections, and OMRI may collect product samples to be analyzed by an independent laboratory. This process may take several months. Section §2.5 of the OMRI Policy Manual states:

If OMRI has reason to believe that an applicant or an OMRI Listed supplier has misrepresented their product, its ingredients, manufacturing process, or intended uses in the supplier’s or applicant’s communications with OMRI, OMRI will conduct an investigation as described in §2.10.2. Such an investigation may lead to delisting of an OMRI Listed product as described in §2.11, or denial of OMRI Listed status for an applying product if the product is found to be noncompliant with OMRI standards, as well as delisting of all of the supplier’s currently listed products.

OMRI cannot disclose the status or findings of an investigation outside of a final status decision. Whether or not an individual company or product is under investigation is also confidential. For more information on OMRI’s confidentiality policy, see §1.6 of the OMRI Policy Manual. For more information on current agricultural advisories, contact your respective state agency.

Contact: Gwynn Sawyer Ostrom
Review Program Technical Manager
(541) 343-7600 x. 132