COO Peer Review Procedure

1.0 Scope and Purpose

This procedure describes the approach that shall be followed by the Canada Organic Office when conducting a peer review. The purpose of the peer review is to determine the extent to which the assessed competent authority demonstrates conformity with the requirements specified in an equivalency agreement (arrangement).

2.0 Authority

The authority for the conducting peer review process of a foreign country's equivalency status is provided by:

  1. Canada Agricultural Products Act
  2. Organic Products Regulations 2009
  3. Equivalency arrangement with a foreign government

3.0 On-Site Peer Review Procedure

3.1 The COO shall define the manner in which the peer review will be conducted.

3.2 The COO national manager shall appoint a peer review team leader who will take full responsibility for the peer review process and related communication.

3.3 Prior to initiating the peer review process the appointed COO peer review team shall provide the competent authority with a proposal for the peer review process including:

  1. The proposed number of people conducting the review, their names and affiliations.
  2. Duration of the review.
  3. The language in which the peer review process will be conducted.
  4. Proposed peer review plan including visits to certification bodies and certified operators.

3.4 The activities which will be subjected to the peer review process include:

  1. Documentation review
  2. Record assessment
  3. Personnel interviews
  4. Technical assessment of the competent authority's conformity assessment activities
  5. Witnessing the competent authority performing its accreditation activities
  6. Visit to the competent authority's main office
  7. Visits to the Certification bodies accredited by the competent authority
  8. Visits to operators certified under the oversight of the competent authority

3.5 Prior to the on-site peer review the COO shall request at least the following information related to the scope of the peer review:

  1. Methods or procedures to which the competent authority operates.
  2. Copy of its quality manual (if available), list of procedures and working instructions and the associated documents.

3.6 The COO team shall not conduct a peer review unless a written response is received from the competent authority declaring awareness of the manner in which the peer review will be conducted and accepts the visit of the peer review team.

3.7 The COO peer review team shall commence the on-site review with an opening meeting with the relevant personnel of the competent authority. At this meeting, the purpose of the peer review and the requirements specified prior to the review will be confirmed, along with the scope of and the review plan for the on-site visit.

3.8 During the on-site review the COO peer review team shall gather objective evidence that the competent authority conforms to the requirements specified by the equivalency agreement.

3.9 The COO peer review team shall witness a sufficient number of examples and files of the on-site activities of the competent authority personnel using appropriate sampling techniques to ensure that their fulfilment of requirements is appropriately evaluated.

3.10 The COO peer review team shall interview a sufficient number and variety of personnel of the competent authority to provide assurance that the applicant fulfils the requirements.

3.11 The COO peer review team shall conclude the on-site review with a closing meeting prior to leaving the site at which the COO peer review leader shall present a report on the findings and opportunity shall be given to the competent authority to ask questions about the finding and their basis.

3.12 The COO peer review team shall leave with the competent authority an exit report which shall list all the finding.

3.13 The COO peer review team shall prepare a complete written peer review report within 30 days after the on-site visit.

3.14 The competent authority will be invited to comment on the peer review report and to describe the specific actions taken or planned to be taken, within a defined time, to remedy any identifies non-conformities.

3.15 The competent authority's response will be reviewed by the COO and will be shared with the government interdepartmental group.

3.16 The COO and the government interdepartmental group have to determine and confirm if all non-conformities have been satisfactory documented and addressed.

3.17 The COO may request additional information from the competent authority if the result from the review does not clearly indicate that not all non-conformities have been satisfactory documented and addressed.

3.18 If the result from the review is satisfactory that will indicate that the competent authority continues to conform to the requirements as outlined in the equivalence agreement.

4.0 Communication of the results from the peer review

4.1 The COO shall make available the results from the peer review to all the departmental groups including AAFC, DFAIT and CFIA International section.

5.0 Person responsible

5.1 The COO international equivalency officer and the COO Lead auditor are responsible for conducting the peer reviews.

5.2 The COO international equivalency officer is responsible for coordinating the communication between the two parties.

6.0 Records

6.1 The COO shall maintain records of peer review reports and related correspondence in accordance with the requirements outlined in Section 7 from the COO Quality manual Control of Documents and Records Policy.