The Indian government has deferred plans that would have required exports of all organic textile products to be certified to the Indian Standard for Organic Textiles (ISOT).
The decision has been described as "most welcome" by manufacturers and exporters who feared interruptions to their business.
Shri RK Dalmia, chairman of the Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council (Texprocil), said the implementing body, the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), has not yet sent out accreditation letters to the certifying bodies - even though the deadline for complying was set for 18 December.
However, according to a notice from the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) at the Ministry of Commerce, the mandatory certification of organic textile products exported from India to the ISOT will not be enforced until "further order."
The ISOT is part of the National Program for Organic Production (NPOP), whose certification was already required for raw cotton. The plans would have seen it extended to cover finished organic textile products like yarn, fabrics and garments.
The proposal was of particular concern to the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), which feared the changes in certification procedures would have had implications for the manufacturers and exporters of GOTS certified and labelled textile products. In essence, organic textile manufacturers would have had to obtain ISOT certification as a legal requirement - while GOTS certification would also continue to be required as a buyers' requirement in order to allow corresponding organic labelling in sales markets.
"We trust that the Indian Government will now carefully consider practicability of implementation (deadline) and potential implications for all parties concerned and especially the Indian export industry before any related follow-up decisions/notifications are being released in this context.
Source:- just-style.com
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