§6521a. Organic agricultural product imports interagency working group

(a) Establishment

(1) In general

The Secretary and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall jointly establish a working group to facilitate coordination and information sharing between the Department of Agriculture and U.S. Customs and Border Protection relating to imports of organically produced agricultural products (referred to in this section as the "working group").

(2) Members

The working group-

(A) shall include-

(i) the Secretary (or a designee); and

(ii) the Secretary of Homeland Security (or a designee); and

(B) shall not include any non-Federal officer or employee.

(3) Duties

The working group shall facilitate coordination and information sharing between the Department of Agriculture and U.S. Customs and Border Protection for the purposes of-

(A) identifying imports of organically produced agricultural products;

(B) verifying the authenticity of organically produced agricultural product import documentation, such as national organic program import certificates;

(C) ensuring imported agricultural products represented as organically produced meet the requirements under this chapter;

(D) collecting and organizing quantitative data on imports of organically produced agricultural products; and

(E) requesting feedback from stakeholders on how to improve the oversight of imports of organically produced agricultural products.

(4) Designated employees and officials

An employee or official designated to carry out the duties of the Secretary or the Secretary of Homeland Security on the working group under subparagraph (A) or (B) of paragraph (2) shall be an employee or official compensated at a rate of pay not less than the minimum annual rate of basic pay for GS–12 under section 5332 of title 5.

(b) Reports

On an annual basis, the working group shall submit to Congress and make publicly available on the websites of the Department of Agriculture and U.S. Customs and Border Protection the following reports:

(1) Organic trade enforcement interagency coordination report

A report-

(A) identifying existing barriers to cooperation between the agencies involved in agricultural product import inspection, trade data collection and organization, and organically produced agricultural product trade enforcement, including-

(i) U.S. Customs and Border Protection;

(ii) the Agricultural Marketing Service; and

(iii) the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service;

(B) assessing progress toward integrating organic trade enforcement into import inspection procedures of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, including an assessment of-

(i) the status of the development of systems for-

(I) tracking the fumigation of imports of organically produced agricultural products into the United States; and

(II) electronically verifying national organic program import certificate authenticity; and

(ii) training of U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel on-

(I) the use of the systems described in clause (i); and

(II) requirements and protocols under this chapter;

(C) establishing methodology for ensuring imports of agricultural products represented as organically produced meet the requirements under this chapter;

(D) recommending steps to improve the documentation and traceability of imported organically produced agricultural products;

(E) recommending and describing steps for-

(i) improving compliance with the requirements of this chapter for all agricultural products imported into the United States and represented as organically produced; and

(ii) ensuring accurate labeling and marketing of imported agricultural products represented as organically produced by the exporter; and

(F) describing staffing needs and additional resources at U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Agriculture needed to ensure compliance.

(2) Report on enforcement actions taken on organic imports

A report-

(A) providing detailed quantitative data (broken down by agricultural product, quantity, value, month, and origin) on imports of agricultural products represented as organically produced found to be fraudulent or lacking any documentation required under this chapter at the port of entry during the report year;

(B) providing data on domestic enforcement actions taken on imported agricultural products represented as organically produced, including the number and type of actions taken by United States officials at ports of entry in response to violations of this chapter;

(C) providing data on fumigation of agricultural products represented as organically produced at ports of entry and notifications of fumigation actions to shipment owners, broken down by product variety and country of origin; and

(D) providing information on enforcement activities under this chapter involving overseas investigations and compliance actions taken within that year, including-

(i) the number of investigations by country; and

(ii) a descriptive summary of compliance actions taken by certifying agents in each country.

(Pub. L. 101–624, title XXI, §2122A, as added Pub. L. 115–334, title X, §10104(i), Dec. 20, 2018, 132 Stat. 4902 .)

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Trade Savings Provision

Pub. L. 115–334, title X, §10104(k), Dec. 20, 2018, 132 Stat. 4905 , provided that: "The amendments made by subsection (i) [enacting this section] shall be carried out in a manner consistent with United States obligations under international agreements."