The European Regulatory Framework and its implementation in influencing organic inspection and certification systems in the EU

The report presents a review of the most important European and international legislation that set the framework for organic certification, of reports prepared by international agencies working with organic standard setting and certification, and of relevant scientific literature. It discusses problems, future challenges of the organic control systems in Europe leading to suggestions for improvement. Food quality assurance is of key importance for the future development of the Common Agricultural Policy of the EU. A large number of mandatory and voluntary assurance and certification schemes exist for agriculture and in the food industry leading to the risk of increased costs for producers and confusion of consumers. Such schemes include the setting of requirements and bodies that undertake control and provide certificates. Requirements can be divided into statutory regulations regarding food safety and good agricultural practice and standards for voluntary attributes. Basic requirements of food safety, animal health and animal welfare are controlled by the Official Food and Feed Control (OFFC) systems, governed by Council Regulation (EC) 882/2004. Third party certification provides credibility to claims related to voluntary standards and is communicated to the consumers through the use of certification marks. The EU has developed a legislative basis for quality claims in relation to geographical indications, traditional specialities and organic farming and considers introducing labelling rules in relation to animal welfare, environmental impact and the origin of raw materials. Organic certification is one of a number of overlapping and competing schemes. The development of organic standards and certification in Europe started with private standards and national rules, leading to Regulation (EEC) 2092/1991. The requirements for competent authorities, control bodies and operators in this regulation regarding the control systems are reviewed. The discussion highlights the low level of knowledge among consumers of the requirements of organic certification, a weak emphasis of the control system on operator responsibility for organic integrity, issues of competition and surveillance of control bodies, a lack of consideration of risk factors in designing the inspection systems and a lack of transparency. A total revision of the European Regulations on organic production began in 2005. One important change introduced by the new Council Regulation (EC) 834/2007 for Organic Food and Farming is that the organic control system is placed under the umbrella of Council Regulation (EC) 882/2004 on Official Food and Feed Controls. Regulation (EC) 834/2007 also requires that control bodies have to be accredited according to general requirements for bodies operating product certification systems (ISO Guide 65/EN 45011). From July 2010 packaged organic products will have to carry the new EU logo as well as the compulsory indication of the control body. The report reviews the requirements for competent authorities, control bodies and operators from the various legal sources. The discussion highlights a lack of clarity on the impact of the OFFC regulation on the organic control system including how risk based inspections are to be implemented and the potential for in-consistencies in the enforcement of the regulation. A number of international initiatives concerned with the harmonisation of organic standards and to a lesser extent certification are reviewed, such as the International Task Force on Harmonisation and Equivalence (ITF)1 Two main alternative guarantee systems for organic production have been developed and researched by a number of organisations including IFOAM, ISEAL, FAO and the EU Commission. Smallholder Group Certification based on an Internal Control System (ICS) and Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS) could also represent ways to minimize certification costs also for European farmers, in particular for operators that market directly or through very short supply chains. Both systems also illustrate examples of certification systems with a focus on system development and improvement. , the European Organic Certifiers Council (EOOC), the International Social and Environmental Accreditation and Labelling Alliance (ISEAL) and the Anti-Fraud Initiative (AFI). The multilateral initiatives have led to a better understanding of current problems and the scope and limitations for harmonisation. They have also contributed to the sharing of tools and methods and the identification of best practice. Apart from organic farming the European Union has two other food quality schemes: Regulation (EC) 510/2006 on geographical indications and Regulation (EC) 509/2006 on traditional specialities. The report explores the potential for combining these with organic certification, and draws lessons for organic certification based on Italian experience. The final chapter summarises problems and challenges from the previous chapters. Suggestions for improvements of the organic control system focus on two issues: the need for further harmonisation of the surveillance of control bodies and enforcement of the regulation and how operators’ responsibility for further development of organic systems could be supported in the control and certification system

REGULATORY TARGETS AND REGIMES FOR FOOD SAFETY: A COMPARISON OF NORTH AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN APPROACHES

Food quality, international trade, harmonization, mutual recognition, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Issues in e-learning standards

This paper will discuss the role of e-learning standards for implementing e-learning applications. We briefly define and describe the issues related to e-learning standards to improve performance and availability of elearning content. We also describe the characteristics of standards important for maintaining high quality elearning contents. The various standards are analyzed and the degree of synergy between different standards organizations is identified. We discuss the life cycle for e-learning standards, and the main types of standards to enable the interchange of components in a learning system. The Malaysian experience is presented as a case study

How Registries Can Help Performance Measurement Improve Care

Suggests ways to better utilize databases of clinical information to evaluate care processes and outcomes and improve measurements of healthcare quality and costs, comparative clinical effectiveness research, and medical product safety surveillance

Indicators of quality in Higher Education – Literature review

The educational indicators, like the rest of the social indicators, have experienced great diffusion in recent years. For this reason, education indicators are increasingly being talked about, in very different contexts and referring to very different realities. Despite the many drawbacks that present, quantitative indicators are still in the process of improvement and even creation, the truth is that they facilitate the analysis of education, although their values do not explain the causal relationships or allow conclusions to be drawn univocal. Although in the different editions (OECD, 2008) some concrete indicators have been varying, the general structure is maintained around four groups: context, resources, process, and results. Evaluating the number of students who complete the studies initiated serves not only to know the failure or academic success of a certain group of young people and, therefore, of a part of society, but also is a good way to measure the efficiency of the educational system. The articulation between the education system and the world of work is one of the priority objectives of economic development policies. The finding that in most countries the qualification of workers does not correspond to that required by employers, converts these educational indicators - which evaluate the effectiveness of education in the training of workers - into indispensable for educational and labor planning. Effectiveness of education can be increased by: eliminating discrepancies between the competences acquired by graduates of higher education and the demand of the labor market and industry; lowering the disparity between the number of students enrolled in scientific careers and in the humanities, as well as the proliferation of private service providers

Beyond Bologna : the Bologna process as a global template for higher education reform efforts

This paper investigates recent regional higher education reform initiatives in non-European regions. It studies which non-European regions have launched Bologna style reform initiatives and analyses these initiatives by means of case studies. The regions where such initiatives were launched are the Asia-Pacific region, parts of Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean. In a nutshell, cultural and institutional similarities among countries participating in these regional initiatives as well as between these countries and Bologna participants can account for the adoption of Bologna style policies. Additionally, dependence on and competition for resources, such as students and academic reputation, determine the non-European universities’ responses to the Bologna Process. In more general terms, the Bologna Process has a major impact even on non-European regions. All the initiatives have in common that they have similar goals as the Bologna Process. Moreover, they have emulated the governance mode of the Bologna Process to a large extent