P a g e 1 The list of certified companies may be consulted at ECOCERT Head office during regular office hours. ECOCERT holds at your disposal an "information for certification GLOBALGAP" questionnaire, licensed contracts and amendment of certification, as well as complementary information General Information on the proceedings General Regulations Version 4.0 Information on the owner FoodPLUS www.globalgap.org Contact : Elodie Fonta elodie.fonta@ecocert.com ECOCERT SA BP 47, 32600 L'Isle Jourdain France Tél : +33.5.62.07.51.90 Fax : +33.5.62.07.11.67
P a g e 2 Objectives of the Globalgap certification : «Global Partnership for safe and sustainable agriculture» - GLOBALGAP GLOBALGAP certification is a worldwide program based on the compliance of the best agricultural practices for the purpose of: - Safety of food, - Protection of the environment, - Social protection, safety and health of the workers, - Animal welfare (if necessary). GLOBALGAP standard is the property of FoodPLUS. It consists of 3 modules: All farm (criteria related to all farms), Crops Based (criteria related to all crops), Fruits and vegetables (specific criteria for fruits and vegetable production). The scope covered by GLOBALGAP certification includes all stages from crop preparation to non-elaborated certified products dispatch, including all post-harvest activities carried out on the produce (bulk or packed product). The different options of GLOBALGAP certification are: There are two main options of certification: - option 1 : Independent producer. Each producer conducts a self-assessment based on the GLOBALGAP standard and is inspected annually by Ecocert. Then, he receives a GLOBALGAP certificate on his name after validation of his compliance with one-year validity for the registered products. - option 2 : producer groups. The producer group is audited annually by Ecocert. All the producers, all their production sites, the eventual packing facilities and the qualifty management system of the producer group are controlled annually by the producer group. Ecocert controls each year the quality management system of the producer group and a sample of the producer members following the sampling requirements defined by GLOBALGAP. After validation of the compliance to the Standard requirements, a GLOBALGAP certificate valid for one year is issued in the name of the producer group. It includes the list of products, producers members and packing stations. For each option, a unannounced inspections are performed according to the GLOBALGAP requirements.
P a g e 3 YOU ECOCERT
P a g e 4 The standard is divided into scopes and sub-scopes. Concerning fruits and vegetables, the criteria to evaluate appear in: - All Farm scope (common to all exploitation). - Crop Base scope (common to all crops), - Sub-scope «Fruits and vegetables», Each of the 3 scopes must be complied after evaluation according to the following GLOBALGAP threshold: - 100% of major compliant criteria, - 95% of minor compliant criteria. COMPLIANCE LEVEL Initial Audit STATUS after the audit Renewal Audit ECOCERT ACTIONS > 1 major No major and > 5% of minor No major And < 5% of minor Warning : corrective actions and attached evidences must be sent within 3 months after the warning If deadline not complied and/or corrective actions plan not satisfactory, new full audit Attribution of the certificate Warning : Corrective actions and attached evidences must be sent within 28 days after the warning If deadline not complied and/or corrective actions plan not satisfactory, Full Suspension or in part (products and/or concerned producers ) And Corrective actions and related evidences must be sent Within the delay allowed by the CB before cancellation Renewal of the certificate (validity length of 1 year starting from the initial issue date) - Review of the exhaustivity and the relevance of the corrective action plan (actions and related evidences) - Possible Additional Audit aimed on checking corrective action plan files - Possible removal of non compliances - Decision of the certification, conforming with the GLOBALGAP threshold - Possible unannounced audits conforming with GLOBALGAP requirements - AUDIT/INSPECTION - CERTIFICATION Requirement levels/criteria GLOBALGAP Major requirement - Minor requirement Recommendation Notation: compliant, non-compliant, non-applicable (with evidence) Contractual Non compliance: a case of non compliance with the contract clauses signed with ECOCERT leads to, a warning, immediate suspension, or certificate cancellation, according to its seriousness, Decision of certification: - case 1 : a farm is certified if all major non-compliance have been removed and if 95% of minor requirements is at least compliant *. - case 2: a PMO is certified if all inspected exploitations comply with case 1, and if all non-compliance of both packing station and Quality System have been removed. * Rounded rule for the number of authorized minor non-compliance: example 94,8% = 94%. Appeals, Claims: ECOCERT has a claim and appeal processing procedure, available on demand. Renewal: Certification renewed following a renewal audit/ inspection. Suspension: Immediate termination of the certificate, full or in part (for a producer, a product ). Cancellation (or withdrawal): Cancellation of the certificate and termination of the certification contract Audit/inspection additional: Audit added to the certification program, and focused on the verification of the corrective action implementation, when the attribution of the certification is pending. Unannounced inspection: additional unannounced intervention (information 48h before) on all relevant information and if possible in agronomic activity season of the crops, performed among at least on : - 10% of engaged producers under option 1 with Ecocert. - 10% of engaged Producer Group under option 2 with ECOCERT - for each engaged Producer Group if option 2, following the Globalgap sampling requirements. Initial certification: Certification following the initial audit and/or inspection, or after a change of certification body
P a g e 5 The certification applicant commits to learn about, and to observe the standard and the GLOBALGAP requirements in force, for him and for the structures as a whole (producers and packing stations) which are involved in the GLOBALGAP certification (Producer Group, producers and packing stations). VISITS BY ECOCERT The certification applicant commits to facilitate the work of ECOCERT, by making all the arrangements required for allowing the certification process to proceed properly, and: Accepts the visits for purpose of audit / inspection announced or unannounced and any additional visit requested by ECOCERT, Authorizes upon prior request, the presence of an observer who will remain mute, of audit teams from the accrediting organization or the standard owner, to observe ECOCERT audit team in activity, Facilitates the access to and review of the documentation and registrations (e.g. internal assessment reports, ) and to all areas and to the staff, and makes sure that all safety provisions are complying with the regulation in force. COMMUNICATION, REFERENCE TO CERTIFICATION The certification applicant commits to: Comply with ECOCERT requirements and to GLOBALGAP requirements (namely the use of the trademark and the logo) when he mentions his certification. In particular, he commits not to communicate to final consumers (on products ) 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 GLOBALGAP 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 GLOBALGAP 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 GLOBALGAP (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 or cancellation of the certification, whatever the reason, any advertisement which one way or another refers to GLOBALGAP or to ECOCERT, and send back to ECOCERT any required certification document. COORDINATION APPLICANT ECOCERT The certification applicant commits to: Provide to ECOCERT the elements required for the certification, including the information required in the application form Update and hold at the disposal of ECOCERT, a statement of the claims and related corrective actions (with the evidences of implementation of the actions), Hold on site at the disposal of ECOCERT all necessary documents for supporting the compliance with the standard requirements. In case of modification of the initial application and commitments (eg : list of crops or producers, internal auditor and inspector (option 2), sites, surface areas, distances, complexity, status, ) the applicant must inform ECOCERT immediately for a new verification which may result in a complementary intervention. Every decision related to certification that may affect the certification process by ECOCERT, in a more general way, everything that may modify the compliance with the requirements must be told to ECOCERT immediately.