- ECOCERT
ECOCERT is an organic certification organization, founded in
France in1991 . It is based in Europe but conducts inspections in over 80 countries, making it one of the largest organic certification organizations in the world.ECOCERT's co-founder and
CEO is William Vidal. [http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:RiPB6ZJ01_0J:www.qai-inc.com/pdfs/QAI-EcoCert_Partnership.pdf+ecocert+%22william+vidal%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=5&gl=us] It began as a partnership between European nations, but has gradually expanded to many other nations around the world. The company's French headquarters are located inL'Isle Jourdain ,Gers , France, [http://www.ecocert.fr/Contact.html] and its ECOCERT INTERNATIONAL division is based inNortheim ,Germany .ECOCERT primarily certifies food and food products, but also certifies cosmetics, detergents, perfumes, and textiles. The company inspects about 70% of the organic food industry in France and about 30% worldwide.
In 2008 the United States
National Organic Program found numerous violations with ECOCERT's certification of Chinese products which, when tested, were found not to have been organically produced. [http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/642/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=1336]ubsidiaries
ECOCERT has subsidiaries in several countries:
*Brazil - ECOCERT BRASIL
*Canada - ECOCERT CANADA
*Colombia - ECOCERT COLOMBIA
*Ecuador - ECOCERT ECUADOR
*France - ECOCERT France S.A.S.
*Germany - ECOCERT DEUTSCHLAND
*Japan - ECOCERT JAPAN/QAI JAPAN Ltd.
*Portugal - ECOCERT PORTUGAL/SOCERT
*Romania - ECOCERT EUROPE DU SUD EST
*South Africa - ECOCERT SOUTH AFRICA-AFRISCO PTY Ltd
*Spain - AMBICERTExternal links
* [http://www.ecocert.com/?lang=en ECOCERT official site]
* [http://www.ecocert.fr/Historique-de-la-societe.html ECOCERT history] (French)
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