Americert Ceases Issuance of “Letters of Good Standing”

Americert occasionally receives requests for written confirmation (beyond the organic certificate already issued) that an operation is still certified in good standing. Prior to the creation of the Organic Integrity Database, this was a common request and regular practice because there was no way to check if a certificate was still valid, or if the operation’s certification had been revoked, suspended or surrendered. Currently, however, there is no need for the issuance of Letters of Good Standing, because you can instantly check the certified status of any operation by going to the Organic Integrity Database (https://organic.ams.usda.gov/integrity) and search any operation by name in order to find its current status. The database remains the easiest and most reliable way to determine the organic status of an operation as it is kept current and updated constantly by the accredited certifying agents. One can also look on the organic certificate itself which includes the internet address of the certificate for that specific operation.

Organic certificates, once issued, remain in effect until they have been surrendered, revoked, or suspended. When any of those occur, the Organic Integrity Database is updated to reflect this. No date on an organic certificate should be construed as an “expiration date” as no such date exists under the organic regulations. Organic certificates do not expire, and the most recent copy of the organic certificate is always available in the Organic Integrity Database. The Organic Integrity Database also provides a way to download or print the organic certificate. It also provides a way of documenting the date of your inquiry by selecting the Export to PDF button in the upper right corner. If you select that option it will provide you with a printed operation profile that includes the date you printed it in the footer of that document.

Because easy and reliable methods of verifying organic certificates now exists, Americert does not provide “Letters of Good Standing” to (or about) Americert certified operations who are already certified. Instead we ask operations to share their organic certificate with entities requesting confirmation or direct operations to the Organic Integrity Database for verification of certificates. This has become the new standard practice among certifiers.