The Asia Regional Organic Standard (AROS) was developed by a public-private partnership of stakeholders in East, South-East and South Asia under the auspices of the GOMA project, led by the Food and Agriculture Program of the United Nations (FAO), the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). This standard is a major component of an initiative to develop regional cooperation on organic labeling and trade. AROS can facilitate assessment and agreement on equivalence among organic standards in the Region, serve as a basis for the development of new standards, and stimulate harmonization of existing standards. The purpose and development of this standard is further described in the AROS Introduction, Section 1.0 of the document.