New Organic Certification Services

With more than 10 years of experience in providing organic certification services to Japanese and international clients, Ecocert-QAI Japan Ltd. is diversifying. No longer content to provide just JAS, USDA NOP and EC organic certification, the firm soon will be offering online sustainability education and carbon footprint verification.

On 1 April, the firm will launch a broad online-training system at

www.sustainability-training.info

The first courses will be given in Japanese and focus on organic cosmetics. The goal is to educate both consumers and retailers on related environmental aspects that impinge on our daily lives. Further, underscoring the firm’s environmental concerns, the courses are entirely online and paperless, thereby leaving a very low carbon footprint.

Initially, the training system will provide courses covering four main areas: organic food, organic cosmetics, organic textiles and sustainability. Each area will have three levels that focus on providing information to a specific market segment. Corporate training options will also be available.

The firm’s carbon verification service will focus on teaching — in English, French, Spanish, Chinese and Japanese — students how to prepare an internal audit of energy use; comply with the new Japanese government regulations that take effect in April 2010; and apply an external audit to the data gathered.

Ecocert-QAI Japan Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ecocert SA, headquartered in L’Isle Jourdain, near the French city of Toulouse. The parent firm, a leader in sustainable development, has 21 offices in 20 countries and has certified the organic food and agriculture of more than 45,000 clients worldwide. Moreover, Ecocert is the dominant standard in the organic cosmetic sector, its clients representing over 75% of the sector’s firms.

In Japan, Ecocert-QAI Japan Ltd. certifies Hakkutsuru Corp., Kikkoman Corp., Yamasa Corp., Marubeni Corp., Mercian, Suntory, St. Neige, Dai-Nippon Meiji Sugar Corp., Nisshin Sugar Corp., Marukome Corp., Japan Salt Corp. and many others.