Reply to: crucefix@ioas.org

Mr Hugo Jansen,
Laagstraat 30, 4641 SP Ossendrecht
Netherlands

August 4, 2006

Dear Mr Jansen,

Subject: Complaint against Organic Agriculture Certification Thailand (ACT)

Further to my letter to you of May 31, 2006 I have the following information on the above complaint you brought to our attention on March 14, 2006. Since my last letter, the IOAS have asked ACT of Thailand to conduct their own investigation. They have reported to the IOAS and the whole case has been reviewed by our Executive Board in early July.
In my last communication I stated that ‘From January 2006, NN  has been certified by ACT’. This is correct but we have received more detail from ACT which necessitates a clarification.
What is now clear is that NN has many organic projects. The project which is certified by ACT is an asparagus project based in Surin Province. The ACT operator list attached of May 2006 makes this clear.
The fact that it is now clear ACT are not certifying the NN farm that is the subject of your complaint takes the issue out of our scope of investigation. The responsible entity with respect to the subject farm is SA Cert of the United Kingdom.

Reply from H. Jansen: “Well done, Mr. Crucefix. It took you 4,5 months to find out weather a certain Farm was under your responsibility or not. Corn needs only 3 months to grow from a seed to a cob.
Treated seeds can be detected for only  a few weeks. Liquid fertiliser can almost not be detected if not caught in the act of applying.  And you need 4,5 months to find out if this farms is under your responsibility.
And if we call you inadequate you have the nervs to threaten to go to court !

The NN farm Bankao 2 is still certified by SA Cert but inspected by ACT. We understand from ACT that you have already contacted SACert with a similar complaint and that SA Cert is sending an inspector to perform the inspection this year themselves.

Reply by H. Jansen: “ When I inquired at NN’s sales office in Europe about the availability of their Thai sweetcorn they told me that this year NN has some ‘organisational problems’. Most of the time there is no corn available this year. Would this possibly have something to do with the SA inspector going to NN himself this summer ?  If so, would it be an indication that also NN is unable to grow real organic sweetcorn in the Thai climate ? Mr. Crucefix, could you inquire at NN what kind of ‘organisational problems ‘they have met wih this year ?

The Executive Board of the IOAS decided that your complaint against ACT can be closed. Should you find that you are not satisfied with the way that your complaint is handled by SA Cert and you feel that they do not comply with IFOAM Norms on this matter, you may refer the matter back to us.

Reply of H. Jansen: “Mr. Crucefix, do you really mean what you write here ?  Are you so uninterested that after all this you do not keep in touch with SA and kind of monitor what they are doing ?
After all: you are accrediting them. You know that this is a case where things went wrong. You know that (bad) publicity is not far away. Normally  I just would not believe this. But by now I know that SA has not even sent me one email since march this year, where they promised to give me an answer in april. Now I know that you do not monitor SA in this case. We call this: incompetent.   

In light of this information we ask that you correct and or withdraw various misleading statements on your web site at www.organicfraud.org

Reply from H. Jansen:”Mr. Crucefix, ifthere are any wrong or misleading statements on my website, tell me. I will withdraw them. I cannot find them  There may be statements that damage your reputation, but if They are correct, it is you who should change, not this website.
If you are looking for misleading statements I suggest youread your own website.

Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention and your concern for the integrity of organic agriculture.

Yours sincerely,

David Crucefix PhD
Assistant Executive Director