Joint Organic Compliance Committee

As part of their work towards organic equivalency, the United States and Mexico have formed a Joint U.S.-Mexico Organic Compliance Committee to strengthen monitoring and enforcement controls on organic products traded between the two countries.

Committee Overview and Goals

Established through a terms of reference document signed by AMS Administrator Elanor Starmer and Enrique Sánchez Cruz, Head of the National Service for Animal and Plant Health, Food Safety and Quality of Mexico (SENASICA), the Organic Compliance Committee will implement its activities alongside discussions on equivalency.

The Organic Compliance Committee’s primary goals are to increase transparency, strengthen monitoring and enforcement controls between the United States and Mexico, and build stakeholder confidence in a potential equivalency arrangement between the two countries.

The Organic Compliance Committee will:

  • work to establish requirements for the use of import certificates in both countries within six months to provide verification of each shipment of organic products between the United States and Mexico;
  • implement pesticide residue testing in each country and share the sampling results with each other’s regulatory authorities;
  • engage with certifiers operating in Mexico by conducting listening sessions to determine any additional training, oversight, or policy guidance needs.

Organic Trade with Mexico

Supporting Documents