Five Indian cotton companies have been banned by the Global Organic Textile Standards (GOTS), a German organisation, for cheating the GOTS system by employing fictitious shipping companies to demonstrate the transit of commodities.
The organisation that verifies the organic quality of textiles, said on its website that it was enforcing a certification ban for two years on the Indian firms, meaning that they would not be able to claim to have obtained GOTS organic certification.
Two of the companies are based in Odisha, while the other three function from Gujarat.
“According to investigations, there was no material transfer and the shipping company was nonexistent. The Certification Body suggested a ban on this company based on the facts, even though it is not currently certified.” GOTS said.
According to the organisation, the Odisha-based businesses submitted forged National Organic Program (NOP) transaction certificates (TCs) for raw cotton with a QR code that directed to a spoof website, confirming the TCs’ falsity based on complaints received and subsequent investigations.
When the matter was brought up with GOTS, it was informed that neither of these businesses actually purchased any cotton. According to reports, the cotton was shipped from Odisha to Maharashtra, which activist Liam Olive said went against GOTS regulations. It is not possible to transport organic raw cotton more than 500 kilometres. The cotton in this instance was driven roughly 800 kilometres.
Before enforcing the ban, GOTS claimed to have thoroughly examined the matter. The organic textiles group has already taken action against businesses that purport to export or deal in organic cotton.
Due to their involvement in fraudulent operations, it prohibited four other Indian companies from obtaining certification for a period of two years in September.