有機食品の検査認証制度創設の意義と今後の課題  [in Japanese] The Significance and the Future Agenda for Establishing the Inspection and Certification System of Organic Foods  [in Japanese]

Recently, diversified distribution system of the organic foods has made it necessary for producers to label for its identification and certification of organic products and thus to provide a signal to consumers. In Japan, the inspection and certification system of organic foods will go into effect from April, 2000. The significance of the new system is as follows : 1) the improvement of the reliability of the organic labeling under perfect information, 2) the exclusion of the false organic foods from the market, and 3) the avoidance of adverse selection under asymmetric information. The future agenda include : 1) the expansion of the certification system to the integrated products, 2) the provision of economic measures to the organic farmers, 3) the accomplishment of the concrete policy to promote production and marketing of organic foods, and 4) the establishment of marketing system that places importance on cooperation with the producer and the consumer.