Interested in re-certifying OCOP products

(Baothanhhoa.vn) - According to regulations, OCOP product certificates are granted to entities that meet the criteria and are valid for 36 months. After the expiration date, entities will no longer be allowed to use the OCOP product certification mark to print or stick on product packaging and labels when circulating or consuming on the market. To facilitate brand building and promote the value of OCOP products on the market, OCOP entities need to pay attention to re-certifying OCOP products after the expiration date.

Minh Truong Cordyceps product (Hoang Tien commune) after re-registration is consumed well in the market.

In recent years, being certified to meet OCOP standards has brought many benefits to the subjects. This is considered a "passport" for products to dominate and expand the market. However, according to statistics from the Provincial New Rural Development Program Coordination Office, there are currently dozens of OCOP products that are due for re-evaluation and recognition but have not or have not been implemented. For example, the Tan Lap Hill Chicken Egg product of the Tan Lap Hill Chicken Breeding and Service Cooperative (former Vinh Loc district) meets the 4-star OCOP standard, and the recognition period has expired on November 26, 2024. However, by the above deadline, the subject has not filed a file to re-recognize the product. Director of Tan Lap Hill Chicken Breeding and Service Cooperative Le Thi Hanh said: "After being recognized as a 4-star OCOP product, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic recession, production costs increased, so the Cooperative could not maintain and develop the market and production scale, and did not meet the criteria of a 4-star OCOP product according to Decision No. 148/QD-TTg dated February 24, 2023 of the Prime Minister on promulgating the set of criteria and procedures for evaluating and classifying OCOP products. Therefore, the Cooperative did not participate in the re-evaluation and recognition of the product."

It is known that after the owner of Tan Lap Hill Chicken Egg product did not have the procedure to re-register for certification, the People's Committee of Vinh Loc district (old) sent a document to the Provincial New Rural Development Program Coordination Office not to propose the Provincial Council to re-evaluate and recognize the Tan Lap Hill Chicken Egg product.

As the subject of 2 3-star OCOP products: Thien Truong 36 Queen Melon and Thien Truong 36 Baby Cucumber, both recognized in 2020. However, when the deadline for re-registration of OCOP products came, Thien Truong 36 High-Tech Agricultural Trade Service Company Limited (Dong Tien Ward) did not complete the procedures to be re-evaluated and recognized. Company Director Nguyen Xuan Thien said: "Although the company has been notified by the locality and the OCOP Program management unit of the province, it has not yet taken steps to be re-recognized because the new regulations require higher standards. If the product is re-evaluated in 2023, it will be difficult to maintain the star rating. In addition, the products are being consumed in a stable market segment, not requiring strict requirements for OCOP certification, so we find that re-certification is not really necessary."

The Thien Truong 36 Queen Melon product of Thien Truong 36 High-Tech Agricultural Trading Service Company Limited has expired for 36 months but still has not re-registered for OCOP product certification.

After more than 6 years of implementing the OCOP Program, Thanh Hoa province has achieved many outstanding results, the number of products has increased over the years, and the quality has been constantly improved. To date, the whole province has 647 OCOP products with 3 stars or more. Of which, most of the products recognized in 2019, 2020, and 2021 have expired. After reviewing the list of OCOP products, the Provincial New Rural Development Program Coordination Office sent an official dispatch to the People's Committees of localities to urgently evaluate and re-classify products that are due for re-recognition. Most of the subjects have completed the dossiers to submit to competent authorities for re-evaluation and re-certification to continue using the OCOP-starred logo. However, many subjects are still indifferent and uninterested. The reason given by the subjects is that the dossier requesting re-recognition requires the same requirements as the first recognition, while the standards are higher, many subjects do not have enough resources to implement. In addition, with the activities of evaluating and re-certifying OCOP products, there is no mechanism or support policy, plus the consumption market, the development of some products is still limited, the production scale is small and seasonal, so the subjects have not focused on upgrading stars as well as completing procedures to re-certify OCOP products.

Regularly, the Provincial New Rural Development Program Coordination Office will compile statistics and send notifications to entities whose products have expired OCOP product recognition in accordance with regulations. At the same time, strengthen coordination with relevant units and localities to organize inspections and monitor compliance with regulations for products whose OCOP product certification has expired. Accordingly, the old district People's Committee has issued 30 notifications of no longer recognizing OCOP products with 30 expired products but did not re-recognize them. Among them, there are a number of 4-star OCOP products such as: Van Hoa yellow melon, Van Hoa melon; Earth basket, Viet Anh vegetable tray, Viet Anh decorative plate of the old Nga Son district; Taki melon, Babay cucumber of the old Quang Xuong district...

According to regulations, products whose OCOP certification has expired, are not re-certified but still use the OCOP product certification mark to circulate on the market are acts of taking advantage of the OCOP title and violating other provisions of the law. Therefore, departments, branches and localities need to strengthen propaganda and mobilize entities to continue to maintain, improve and enhance product quality; supplement and complete registration dossiers, re-evaluate products to be able to use the OCOP logo with stars as prescribed. In case the entity does not participate in the re-evaluation and re-classification, specialized agencies will propose handling if there is an act of consuming products under the name of OCOP products on the market.

Article and photos: Thanh Hoa

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/quan-tam-tai-chung-nhan-san-pham-ocop-259644.htm