The Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) has said that it has not received any evidence of fraud, whether from Textile Exchange or other partners, since uncovering fraud in India in 2020 through its own research.
Reacting on a report of New York Times, GOTS said in a press statement that is not a farm standard and, therefore, does not certify cotton. Instead, GOTS is the stringent voluntary global standard for the entire post-harvest processing of apparel and home textiles made with certified organic fibre and includes both environmental and social criteria.
So far, GOTS has imposed a certification ban on 11 companies (affecting 20,000 tonnes of cotton, one-sixth of India’s total production) and terminated the contract with an approved certification body.
“We have repeatedly banned dubious companies from the GOTS system and published this information. We are eager to see such evidence, as GOTS consistently acts against such proof and imposes strict sanctions such as certification bans,” it said.
The statement further added that GOTS is not funded by brands and it is an independent non-profit organisation, finances itself through annual fees of 150€ per certified facility. Each of the approximately 12,000 certified facilities worldwide, regardless of size, pays the same amount of 150€ per year.
“Consumers can be confident that the cotton in a GOTS-certified product is organic. GOTS only allows fibres to enter the supply chain that are certified according to the standards of the IFOAM family and that have gone through mandatory checks,” it said.
GOTS said that to prevent possible fraud on farm level, GOTS goes a step further and requires that seed cotton entering the GOTS supply chain is tested for the presence of genetically modified organisms according to the applicable ISO protocol.
Additionally, GOTS-approved Certification Bodies include further testing (such as pesticide residue) according to their risk assessment and are fully authorised to reject material that does not meet GOTS requirements.
To further strengthen the GOTS system, GOTS is currently developing a central database that will track the origin of not only organic cotton but also other organic materials. It will cover the entire GOTS chain, from the first processing steps to the final products. To remain independent of economic interests, we have applied for public funding for the development of the database. Although this slows the development, our independence is worth it.
