Agricultural Production and Certification Act Article 5

Any institution or legal entity which intends to provide accreditation services shall apply to the central competent authority by submitting the required documents. It may carry out accreditation activities after an approval is granted by the central competent authority. The same requirements also apply when changes are to be made to the approved scope. The central competent authority may promulgate any of its affiliated agencies to be an accreditation body if necessary.The validity of the certificate of the aforementioned approval shall not exceed 5 years and the certificate holder may apply to the central competent authority for extending the validity period one year prior to the expiry date. The validity of renewed certificate shall not exceed 5 years.The accreditation activities conducted by accreditation bodies are the following:1. Accepting and reviewing accreditation applications.2. Signing accreditation contracts with accredited certification bodies.3. Issuing accreditation certificates to accredited certification bodies for the accredited scope.4. Assessing the accredited certification bodies by auditing their certification activities.5. Other accreditation related activities promulgated by the central competent authority.The central competent authority shall establish regulations to stipulate the eligibility, criteria, procedures, and required documents for the application and changes to the approved scope as well as rescission of approval specified in paragraph 1; the required documents for renewal application specified in paragraph 2; the information that shall be stated in the certificates specified in subparagraph 3 of the preceding paragraph; and other relevant requirements.