CU India to submit documents to lift organic textile certification suspension
Control Union (CU) India said it has been put on ‘temporary suspension’ until June 7 to come up with a fix after the International Organic Accreditation Service (IOAS) told it couldn’t test and sample Indian organic textiles because of problems with the way it was certified.
In a letter to its clients, CU India Managing Director Kris Van den Keybus said that the certification body was trying to clear its name by giving IOAS all of the documents it needed within a week.
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It wants its documents to be looked at as quickly as possible, ‘keeping in mind the importance of the situation and balancing natural justice with the law of parity.’
CU India said that on March 3, the IOAS appeals committee turned down its appeal and put the certification process on hold with some conditions.
The global organic certification body has given CU India permission to keep doing inspections based on its annual inspection plan. This means that certified operators can keep their certifications.
Why someone was suspended
Keybus said that on December 8, 2022, IOAS sent CU India a letter that took away its accreditation for six months. But the group didn’t agree with the decision. It signed up for an appeal and sent it in against the two reasons given for its suspension.
IOAS said that CU India had not looked at all of the requirements and information needed to make certification decisions for Scope Certificates, which make sure that organic food products meet certain standards, and Transaction Certificates, which make sure that a product sold or shipped meets certain standards.
It said that CU India had failed to deal with problems and make sure they didn’t happen again.
During the suspension, CU India will not accept any new applications for GOTS (General Organic Textile Standards) or TE (Textile Exchange) that were in progress as of March 3, 2023, nor will it give out any certificates.
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It won’t add any new products, processes, or units to the scope of certification for operators who already have it. CI India said that it will not give out any transaction certificates while it is suspended.
Some of CU India’s clients, like members of the Tamilnadu Spinners’ Association, have been worried about the suspension, which is why CU India sent out this message.
Control Union Nederland BV, which is based in Rotterdam and is one of the biggest certifiers of organic cotton, has a branch in India called CU India.
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