GLOBALG.A.P. CERTIFICATION PROCESS I. PREAMBLE ECOCERT SA is committed in the control and the certification of products for over 20 years. With this experience, we offer the certification of your products according to the GLOBALG.A.P. scheme for the production of fruits and vegetables. The certification provides the objective evidence, coming from an independant body, of the compliance with the scheme requirements. It is a voluntary process. Each company committed in the certification is responsible for the compliance with those requirements. This document describes the key steps of the certification process and is a part of the contract between the applicant and ECOCERT SA. II. DEFINITIONS Terms used in this document are defined in Annex I. III. APPLICABLE SCHEME The GLOBALG.A.P. scheme is for the audit of good agricultural practices for individual producers and producer groups. This scheme is private and dealt by Foodplus GmbH. ECOCERT SA signed a contract with Foodplus GmbH and is accredited to be able to perform GLOBALG.A.P. audits for fruits and vegetables. We offer this service in France and abroad through ECOCERT subsidiaries. The documents of the scheme (ie General Regulations and Control Points and Compliance Criteria ) and the audit checklists and national interpretation guideline (if applicable) are available for free on the GLOBALG.A.P. website (http://www.globalgap.org/).
IV. ACCES TO THE CERTIFICATION A. Scope of our service The GLOBALG.A.P. certification of fruits and vegetables is for individual producers or producer groups who cultivate fruits and vegetables. The are two main certification options : - the option 1 : for individual producers. - the option 2 : for producer groups. The scope of the certification includes all the steps from the preparation of the soil before planting, to the expedition of unprocessed fresh products, including the packing step if appropriate. The potential processing steps of the fruits and vegetables are not covered by the GLOBALG.A.P certification. B. Acces to Ecocert services: restrictions ECOCERT SA may refuse an application for certification or to sign a certification contract with a client when there are fundamental or known reasons such as illegal activities or repeated non-conformities of products/certification, inappropriate behavior, outstanding payment etc V. THE CERTIFICATION PROCESS STEP BY STEP The service is based on an annual cycle. It leads, when the certification requirements are fulfilled, to the issuance or the renewal of a certificate. The steps of the certification process are the following (and are detailed below): A. Your certification application : a. Composition of your certification application file In order to give you all the needed information to complete the certification process, we send you the following documents: The application form Information form for GLOBALG.A.P. certification This certification process (This document) We kindly ask you to send us the completed form in order to collect all the necessary information needed for us to review your application. The application review is the verification of the feasibility and of the definition of your project. It aims to Make sure you have read all the requirements of the standard Ensure that all necessary information are specified in the form Study the feasibility of the certificationl of your products. The requirements of ECOCERT, our evaluation, our review our decisions and our monitoring will be specifically related to the scope of your certification, which is defined by the elements on your project that you have provided.
b. Applications which cannot be satisfied by Ecocert Certification is not possible in these specific cases: you are producing a crop that is not mentioned on the list of GLOBALG.A.P. fruits and vegetables authorized crops (list available on demand) you are not a producer or a producer group (examples : you are only a packer of agricultural products, you are a processer of agricultural products, you do the wild collection ) there is an established non-compliance with the general regulations in force on production or packing of fruits and vegetables, there is a conflict of interest that could undermine the impartiality of our decisions, you are in a geographical location that makes certification a technical impossibility or a risk for those involved, We don t have a qualified personnel to meet the specific requirements of the client s request B. Formalization of your contract a. Issuance of your quotation On the basis of your application, we will establish a personal quote for the current year and taking your specific activity into account and based on an estimate of the required working time. Every evaluation which is not planned in the evaluation plan is not included in the initial quotation. (certification tariff available on demand) The quotation is sent to you together with the form Commitment statement, the Sublicence and certification agreement and it amendment) within one week. Additional time may be required for complex cases. b. Which documents are included in your contract with Ecocert SA? The contract of certification is composed of the current versions of the following documents: 1. The Sublicence and Certification Agreement, 2. The Amendment to the Sublicence and Certification Agreement 3. The form Commitment statement 4. The quotation 5. The certification process 6. The rules of reference to certification c. Formalizing your commitment Your contract is concluded upon return of the signed 4 first documents above. By signing these documents, you agree to comply at all times with the contract requirements and the certification program requirements. C. Initial evaluation a. Documentary validation and preparation of your on-site audit Your file will be allocated to a certification officer, who will be your first point of contact. This officer : will send you the forms needed to prepare for your approval audit that are specific to your activity. (GLOBALG.A.P. checklists, guideline for the audit preparation, audit plan for producer groups )
Will register your company on the online GLOBALG.A.P. database and send you your unique identification number (GGN) Will send you the invoice Will send the assignment to the auditor who will perform your on-site evaluation. The auditor will contact you to fix the audit date, during the harvest period and packing period of your crops. b. Evaluation plan The number and the type of evaluations which are necessary during an evaluation cycle (ie 1 year) to guarantee the conformity of the product to the product requirements, depend on your status (individual producer or producer group) and is defined by GLOBALG.A.P. Individual producer (Option 1) : 1. Before ECOCERT s visit, you must perform your self-assessment on all crops and on all production sites that enter in the certification scope. 2. ECOCERT perfoms an announced audit (date fixed with you) on all crops and on all production sites that enter in the certification scope. ECOCERT may divide announced inspections into 2 modules, which shall be verified by the same auditor/inspector : Off-site module : the inspector performs a desk review of documentation sent by the producer before on-site inspection. The off-site module review has to be conducted no more than 2 weeks before on-site inspection. On-site inspection of the remaining content of the check-list, the production process on-site, and verification of the information assessed off-site. All confidential documents have to be present during the on-site inspection. 3. Once certified, if so happen, you may receive (10% of the certified producers receive this kind of audit each year) an unannounced on-site audit (the date is fixed only maximum 48h before) 4. ECOCERT can offer you the unnanounced reward program if : You are certified for at least 2 years The outcome of the last 2 inspections showed compliance with 100% of Major must and at least 95% of minor musts There were no sanctions in the last 2 years. Under the Unannounced reward system, you will be excluded from the additional 10% unannounced inspection. However, the annual inspection will be unnannounced following unannounced rules. You are excluded from the off-site module inspection if unannounced reward program is offered by ECOCERT. Producer groups (Option 2) : 1. Before ECOCERT s visit : a. Your internal qualified auditor performs the audit of the Quality Management System. b. Your internal qualified inspector performs the internal inspection of each producer who has applied for the certification and of each packing unit. 2. ECOCERT performs an announced audit (date fixed with you) of : a. your Quality Management System. ECOCERT may divide announced audit into 2 modules, which shall be verified by the same auditor/inspector : Off-site module : this consists of a desk review of documentation sent by the producer before on-site inspection. The off-site module review has to be conducted no more than 2 weeks before on-site inspection. On-site inspection of the remaining content of the check-list, the production process on-site, and verification of the information assessed off-site. All confidential documents have to be present during the on-site inspection.
b. each packing unit c. a sample of the producers who have applied for the certification (minimum the square root). ECOCERT Once the producer group is certified, ECOCERT performs an unannounced onsite audit (date communicated maximum 48 hours in advance) of a sample of the certified producers (at least half the square root). 3. Possibly (10% of the certified producer groups receive this type of audit each year) ECOCERT performs an unannounced on-site audit (date communicated maximum 48 hours in advance) of your Quality Management System. If you receive no sanction during your surveillance audit, a reduction of the sample of producers audited by ECOCERT during the next audit will be considered in accordance with the instructions of GLOBALG.A.P. c. On-site audit The on-site audits are intended to verify the compliance of the products with the certification program criteria and are carried out on all sites performing operations on the products covered by the certification: production site (s) and packaging sites where applicable. ECOCERT SA conducts audits following an evaluation plan specific to your activity. (see paragraph b above) The audit is carried out according to the following steps: - The opening meeting: the auditor presents the objectives and the different points to check, confirms the scope and the audit plan, - The evaluation of the documentation, - The on-site visit and interview with employees, - The closing meeting: the auditor makes a summary of the on-site audit. d. Summary of the on-site evaluation During the on-site and/or off-site evaluation, non-conformities can be found. These non-conformities require actions from your part you in order be conform again. During the closing meeting on site, you will receive the «inspection conclusion sheet», and the «deviation file», that you have to sign. These forms give the detail of the non-conformities found, and give information regarding the additional evaluation tasks that are necessary to verify that the non-conformities have been corrected. These documents are used to synthesize the verifications that have been conducted and conclude the inspection. e. Evaluation of implemented corrective actions If the conclusion of your on-site evaluation is that you are not in compliance with the certification program requirements, the auditor communicates you a warning at the end of the evaluation via the inspection conclusion form. At this point, if you express interest in continuing the certification process, you must submit corrective actions for each nonconformity in the given time. These proposed actions, called corrective actions, must be relevant and sufficient. Otherwise we will ask you to submit other actions. To verify the correction of non-conformities, ECOCERT performs a documentary evaluation. In special cases ECOCERT may have to do a new on-site evaluation (very large number of nonconformities, "practical" non-conformities whose resolution requires a field audit...). In this case an email will be sent to notify you and obtain your consent before performing the new evaluation tasks. A period of time is granted for you to submit your corrective actions. This period is maximum : - 3 months if it is an initial evaluation - 28 calendar days if it is a surveillance evaluation. (this period of time can be shortened by ECOCERT depending on the seriousness of the no conformity)
D. Non-conformities and correction plan Regarding GLOBALG.A.P. certification for fruits and vegetables, the requirements are listed in 2 checklists. 1. The quality management system of producer groups has to comply with the checklist «Quality Management System Check-list». 2. The producers (individual producers or producer group members) have to comply with the check list «Integrated farm assurance», which is divided into 3 modules : a. Module applicable to all farms b. Module applicable to crops c. Module applicable to fruits and vegetables The requirements of these checklists are classified into 3 categories : the major requirements, the minor requirements, and the recommendations. a. Major requirements, minor requirements, and recommendations To be certified, the applicant must comply with : - 100% of the applicable major requirements - 95% of the applicable minor requirements. The recommendations are not taken into account to take the certification decision. b. Correction plan Given the rule defined before (see paragraph a above), so that the certificate can be issued you must provide adequate corrective so that: there remains no non-conformity regarding a major requirement there remains maximum 5% of non-conformities regarding minor requirements E. Review of the evaluation results and certification decision The evaluation report and your corrective action proposals are given to a certification officer who will ensure the relevance of the information sent. The certification officer, following the correction plan imposed by GLOBALG.A.P. and explained in paragraph b. above, and in light of the on-site evaluation report and any other documents related to your project, will communicate you the certification decision. If the certification decision is positive, your certification officer will send you your certification document. If the certification decision is negative, your certification officer will inform you by written and explain you the sticking points. COMPLIANCE LEVEL > 1 major Initial Warning : corrective actions and attached evidences must be sent within 3 months after STATUS after the on-site evaluation Surveillance Warning : Corrective actions and attached evidences must be sent within 28 calendar days after the warning ECOCERT ACTIONS - Review of the exhaustivity and the relevance of the corrective action plan (actions and related evidences) - Possible additional on-site evaluation aimed on checking
No major and > 5% of minor the warning If the time period is exceeded and/or corrective actions plan is not satisfactory, new full on-site evaluation If time period exceeded and/or corrective actions plan not satisfactory, Full or partial Suspension (products and/or concerned producers ) And Corrective actions and related evidences must be sent Within the delay allowed by the CB before cancellation corrective action plan files - Possible resolution of nonconformities - Certification decision, following the GLOBALG.A.P. thresholds - Possible unannounced on-site evaluations following GLOBALG.A.P. requirements No major and < 5% of minor Attribution of the certificate Renewal of the certificate - F. Certification documents The certification documents can be issued as soon as: - The certification decision is taken and is positive - The certification requirements are fulfilled The certificate must follow the certificate template imposed by GLOBALG.A.P. and must wear the following information, between others : - Your name*, address and unique identification number (GGN) - Your certification option - The name and address of Ecocert - The beginning of validity of the certificate - The end of validity of the certificate - The date of issuance of the certificate - The list of certified products - The list of the packing units if need be - The list of the producer members of the producer group, if need be - The list of the production sites, if need be *In the case of an individual producer (option 1), the certificate wears the name of the producer. In the case of a producer group (Option 2), the certificate wears the name of the producer group. The certificate is sent to you by email. The certification can also be seen on the GLOBALG.A.P. database online. You can access to the database using your GGN number, and consult the documents, download them or print them. The validity and authenticity of the certification can be checked on the website at any time. Costs that would be incurred in anticipation of a certification decision not yet issued are under your responsibility and cannot be supported by ECOCERT SA. G. Surveillance and continuation of the certification process a. Periodic surveillance The certification process is automatically renewed every year, if you didn t notify ECOCERT SA about the termination of your certification contract under conditions on current contractual conditions. Surveillance is based on the verification of any changes in certification requirements or in the scope of your certification. For this reason, you must inform ECOCERT SA without delay of any change in your system or the range of your products to be certified via the "Annual Commitment statement."
Based on the information provided, ECOCERT SA establishes a new annual quotation. b. Surveillance evaluation (go back to C «Initial evaluation») As soon as we receive the signed quotation, the steps C to F are repeated. It should be noted that during the surveillance process a surveillance evaluation has to take place each year between four months before and four months after the expiry date of the certificate. During this on-site evaluation, all certification program requirements must be assessed, just like during the initial evaluation on site. A particular attention is paid to non-conformities identified during the previous on-site evaluation and to the effectiveness and to the implementation of the corrective actions if necessary. The certificate shall cover one harvest and growing annual cycle. ECOCERT SA shall set the deadline for reacceptance of the product. If you don t reconfirm by that date, ECOCERT SA could shorten the validity of the certificate. H. Renewal of the certification If no nonconformity is identified during surveillance, the certification decision is granted and the person in charge of your certification will issue your new certification document. Where nonconformity arise as a result of the surveillance, if the corrective actions needed to resolve it are not provided within the authorized period (ie 28 calendar days to send sufficient corrective actions after your surveillance evaluation) ECOCERT SA will have to suspend tour certificate. Suspension of the certification : This involves the interruption of your certification until the conformity of the product is established again. The suspension can cover one or more products. To correct this non-compliance and lift the suspension, you will need to provide the necessary elements. During the period of suspension, the producer will be prohibited from using the GLOBALG.A.P. logo/trademark, certificate or any other type of document that is in any way linked to GLOBALG.A.P. in relation to the suspended product. Your status on the online GLOBALG.A.P. database will be «suspended», for the product(s) covered by the suspension. Cancellation (withdrawal of the certification): A cancellation shall be issued where a producer/producer group cannot show evidence of implementation of effective corrective action after ECOCERT declared suspension, when there is a contractual non-conformance or if ECOCERT finds evidence of fraud and/or lack of trust to comply with GLOBALG.A.P. requirements. This decision goes along with the resiliation of the contract with ECOCERT. A cancellation of the contract will result in the total prohibition (all products, all sites) of the use of the GLOBALG.A.P. logo/trademark, certificate, or any device or document may be linked to GLOBALG.A.P. A producer that has received a cancellation shall not be accepted for GLOBALG.A.P. Certification within 12 months after the date of cancellation.
THE STEPS OF THE CERTIFICATION PROCESS YOU ECOCERT 1. Request for information on GLOBALG.A.P. certification 2. Sending of the questionnaire «Informations for GLOBALG.A.P. certification» 3. Handover of relevant information : certification option, scope of the audit, sites, crops... 5. Signature and return of the quotation and of the contractual documents 4. Review of the information (feasibility of the project, duration of the mission), sending of the quotation and the contractual documents (sub license and certification agreement and it addendum, annual commitment statement) 6. Review of your information to verify that there is no inconsistency/modification 7. Registration in the online GLOBALG.A.P. database and communication of your GGN 8. Sending of your invoice 9. Assignment of the auditor for the audit 10. Sending of the audit plan (option 2) If there is off-site module : send documents requested by auditor 11. INITIAL CERTIFICATION AUDIT off-site and/or on-site module during the production, harvest and packing period for each crop 12. We will give you the inspection conclusion form and the deviation file at the end of the audit 13. a : If you are not conform : submission of the corrective action plan and the related evidences 13. b : If you are conform : go to step 15 14. Review of the corrective action plan and related evidences by the certification officer (relevance, exhaustivity) Resolution of the non-conformities 15. CERTIFICATION DECISION following the GLOBALG.A.P. thresolds (100% of the major requirements conforms and 95% of the minor requirements conforms) 16. Update of the online GLOBALG.A.P. database with the results 17. Issuance of the certificate and sending by email 18. Planification of the surveillance audit Between 4 month before and 4 months later the expiry date of the certificate. 19. SURVEILLANCE AUDIT Back to step 3
I. Changes affecting certification a. Changes in the certification scheme (new or revised requirements) ECOCERT SA undertakes to inform you by email of changes to documents in the GLOBALG.A.P. scheme and their modalities of implementation and to make available the most up to date version of the GLOBALG.A.P. scheme on demand. In some cases, the amended provisions will apply with immediate effect or transitional measures may be implemented by GLOBALG.A.P. It is your responsibility to implement the changes and ECOCERT s responsibility to verify that they are correctly implemented. b. Changes of your certification scope : It is also your responsibility to inform ECOCERT SA, without delay, of any changes that might affect your compliance to the certification requirements. Examples of such changes can include the following: Legal, commercial changes, status or ownership, Modifications to your products or your producers members, internal inspector or auditor, production sites, suface areas, distances, complexity, parallel production or ownership Organization and management changes Contact address, Etc These changes may question your certification (changing in the scope of the certificate, suspension,...) and lead to the possible realization of additional tasks (evaluations, reviews, decisions, reissuance or issuance of new certification documents...). c. Transfert between certification bodies It is possible to change your certification body. This must be done in accordance with the instructions issued by GLOBALG.A.P. and designed to ensure the maintenance of the integrity of the GLOBALG.A.P. certificates issued by a certification body if they are subsequently transferred to another certification body, and to ensure that the history of a producer will be considered. When a producer changes from one certification body to another, it is not considered a first inspection. In particular, any producer or producer group who wishes to change his certification body must first resolve all outstanding sanctions before a transfer to a new certification body is possible, or the first certification body must notify the certification body receiver of the global non-conformance. J. End of certification a. Modalities of termination and impact on your certification You can ask to stop certification for all or a part of your products at any time. In case you would like to cease the certification of all your products and stop at the same time your contract, you must do so in compliance with the conditions defined under the sublicense and certification agreement and it amendment. The end of certification for all or a part of your products, and the termination of your contract if any, implies the end of validity of your certificate for the concerned products with immediate effect. Consequently, after the termination date of the certification (and the termination of the contract as the case might be), you can no longer market the concerned products making reference to the certification and/or ECOCERT SA. Certification of products already distributed and still on the market is not questioned.
VI. COMPLAINTS AND APPEALS You may be asked to submit to ECOCERT SA complaints about our services, or to appeal a certification decision taken by ECOCERT SA. ECOCERT SA commits to deal with complaints and appeals in a timely manner and according to our internal procedures. A. Complaints Anyone can send a complaint to ECOCERT SA. Complaint can concern your file, another client, ECOCERT SA service A response will always be sent to the individual who made the complaint under a delay of 15 working days. All complaints are recorded by the quality manager, as well as measures taken and an analysis is made on a regular basis to improve our service. B. Appeals You may appeal any decision on certification by sending a written notice to the certification department. To be eligible, your appeal must: - Be a written notice (letter or email), - Be done within 10 working days, following the receipt of the certification decision, - Be duly justified: new items that have not yet been brought to the attention of ECOCERT SA must be provided. If the appeal is admissible, it is processed by the certification manager Appeals are not suspensive of the decision subject to the appeal. These decisions therefore apply until a new decision has been made after evaluation of your appeal. C. Your obligation with respect to third parts claims You are responsible for managing third parts claims that are addressed to you directly. You must keep a record of all complaints made known to it relating to compliance with certification requirements and makes these records available to ECOCERT SA. These records must keep track of the appropriate action taken and these actions must be documented. VII. USES OF REFERENCES TO CERTIFICATION, TO ECOCERT AND USE OF MARKS (ECOCERT AND OTHERS) ASSOCIATED WITH THE SERVICE The certification applicant commits to: Comply with ECOCERT requirements and to GLOBALG.A.P. requirements (namely the use of the trademark and the QR code logo) when he mentions his certification. In particular, he commits not to communicate to final consumers (especially on products) and not to use the ECOCERT logo on communication materials. Not to use the certificates or reports, totally or in part, in a such way that is likely to induce into error, not to let assume that ECOCERT and/or the GLOBALG.A.P. standard owner are responsible for the observance of the certification requirements, To declare that he is certified for only the product(s) and the site(s) for which he is really certified by ECOCERT,
Not to use his GLOBALG.A.P. certification in such a way as to let people assume that a product, activity, service or system is certified according to a standard other than GLOBALG.A.P. (ISO, IFS, ) Not to make use of his certification in such a way as to affect ECOCERT reputation and to harm ECOCERT brand image, Cease immediately at the suspension, cancellation or at the end of validity of the certification, whatever the reason, any advertisement which one way or another refers to GLOBALG.A.P. or to ECOCERT, and comply with all the requirements of GLOBALG.A.P. and ECOCERT (for example regarding the certification materials), and perform any other action required. Provide a copy of the certification documents to others only reproduced in their entirety or as specified by GLOBALG.A.P.
ANNEXE I : Definitions Corrective action: Action to clear the cause of nonconformity or other underisable situation noticed. Appeal: Written request by a client to the Ecocert group reconsideration of a certification/attestation decision the group has made. Certification: Issuance of a certification document (cf definition) Client: Person or organization that has subscribed a service from the Ecocert group through the signature of a service agreement. Certification document: certification document issued to the client attesting the conformity of products to the scheme. Certification requirement: Specified requirement that is fulfilled by the client as a condition of establishing or maintaining. Nonconformity: Non fulfillment of a requirement Evaluation plan: Description of the number and the evaluation types needed on an evaluation cycle to grant product conformity to products requirements based on the types of clients. Complaint: Expression of dissatisfaction, other than appeal by any person or organization to the Ecocert group relating to the activity if the group where a response is expected. Correction plan: List of nonconformities related to certification requirements and their impact on the certification decision. It can be completed by additional evaluation needed to clear nonconformities. Certification scheme: Set of requirements, rules and procedures defined by the scheme owner that must be implemented by the Ecocert Group. Surveillance: Repetition of the assessment, review, certification decision, according to the certification/control scheme, as the bases of maintenance of certification.