Fee Schedule & Policy
NICS provides quality certification services at a reasonable cost. The following fees are calculated on a “fee for service” basis and are in four parts in order to be as economical and practical as possible: certification fees, inspection fees, user fees, additional service fees.
All fees except the additional service fees and the quarterly user fees are on an annual basis, and all fees must be current for certification services to be provided. Payment arrangements are available upon request and approval by NICS.
Certification Fees
| Producer | $300 |
| Livestock (add-on to producer fee) |
$50 |
| Distributor or broker | $500 |
Inspection Fees
| Producer | $200 [deposit only, see below*] |
| Processor/handler, distributor, broker, trader, retailer, contract processor |
$250 [deposit only, see below*] |
*Inspections are done on a cost basis. The inspection fee deposit above will be applied to the actual cost of the inspection, and NICS will bill the balance due.
Certification and inspection fees must accompany the application. For update (renewal) applications, the date on the certificate is the anniversary date.
NICS will notify clients 90 days, 60 days and 30 days before the anniversary date that the update application and fees are due. A $50 late fee will be applied after the anniversary date, as applicable. All fees must be current for certification services to be provided..
User Fees
Producer User Fees
- Producer user fees are 0.5% (.005). This equals $5/$1000 of gross organic sales.
- When a producer reaches $200,000 of organic sales, the user fee drops to 0.1% (.001), which is $1/$1000 of organic sales over $200,000.
Custom Minimum Flat Rate Certification Fee
| This fee is provided for producers /processors / distributors / brokers / retailers who do not want to use the above fee schedule, including the user fees listed above . As noted, this is a minimum fee, please contact the office for more information. (Requiring an initial assessment and determination be done, this fee is non-refundable). | $2000 |
Additional Service Fees
| Administrative fee (in-office staff technical support, mediation appeals, etc) | $60/hr |
| Verification for compliance with JAS requirements | $100 |
| Verification for compliance with EU/EEC (2092/91) requirements | $100 |
| Adding new products to certificate | $50 |
| Extending NICS certification during transfer to another agency | $50 |
| Extending NICS certification during surrender to cover sales for product from previous year | $50 |
| Requests for certificates issued during the current and 3 preceding calendar years | $5/cert |
| List(s) of certified producers/processors/contracts/distributors/brokers/retailers are available free of charge here; if hard copy needed: | $25/list by year |
| Copies | .10/side |
