What is the process for building consensus-based organic standards?
OTA anticipates an additional working period of at least two years before OTA’s personal care standards are completed. There are several steps that must be completed during that time, including public comment on proposed standards. The process for completing standards includes: 1. Completing a thorough discussion of the issues via the Personal Care Task Force. 2. Generating draft standards for review and discussion by task force members. 3. Revising draft standards for review by OTA’s Quality Assurance Committee, which includes a broad representation of OTA’s voting membership, including farmers, farm input suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, retailers, certifiers, inspectors, and others. 4. Posting the proposed draft standards on OTA’s web site for public comment. OTA encourages members to comment on proposed standards, and invites the public to comment as well. 5. Discussing comments and making changes as needed. Proposed standards might be posted for comment multiple times, depe
