Question : Organic Cotton Certification

(a) whether the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has cancelled the accreditation of certain organic cotton certification agencies and imposed penalty on them and if so, the details thereof;
(b) whether the penalty imposed by APEDA was equivalent to the loss incurred by the nation in terms of wrongly claimed value of organic premium in currency and reputation;
(c) if so, the details of the wrongly claimed organic premium in value; and
(d) whether such wrongly earned organic premium by the certification agencies and traders has been recouped to the exchequer and if so, the details thereof?

THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
(SMT. ANUPRIYA PATEL)
(a): The National Accreditation Body (NAB) has suspended the accreditation of 2 Certification Bodies, in October 2021 and January 2022 respectively, due to irregularities in the certification procedures and lapses in issuing transaction certificates for organic products, including cotton, under the provisions of the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP).
(b) to (d) : It is not possible to quantify the value of wrongly claimed organic premium due to these irregularities and lapses. The penalty imposed on the Certification Bodies, found guilty of these transgressions, is in accordance with the provisions of NPOP.
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