Integrity Report 2020
WELCOME LETTER
Training
Assessment
Brand Integrity
Complaints Management
Customer Support
The Future
MONITORING CERTIFICATION BODY PERFORMANCE
Assessing certification integrity
In addition to annual supervision by their own accreditation bodies – according to the international rules for product certification (ISO 17065) – all GLOBALG.A.P. approved certification bodies (CBs) are monitored by GLOBALG.A.P.’s own dedicated team of expert certification integrity assessors.
The Certification Integrity team monitors and assesses the performance of all GLOBALG.A.P. approved CBs in so-called Integrity Assessments. These Integrity Assessments ensure that CBs are conducting their audits in line with GLOBALG.A.P. guidelines and procedures, the scheme’s normative documents, and the signed license agreement. This ensures that the same criteria and quality standards have been used on a consistent basis.
Integrity assessments explained
- There are several types of Integrity Assessments: CB Office (CBO) and Producer assessments (both can be done on or off-site), CoC assessments, and reviews of add-on checklists uploaded to the GLOBALG.A.P. IT systems. The offices and producers to be assessed are selected mainly based on risk assessments and follow-up of sanctions or complaints. However, there is always a percentage of producer assessments where the sample is selected randomly. In general, CB offices are assessed approximately every 3 years.
- After the assessments, reports are reviewed centrally. The CB assessments are then classified according to their performance on a scale of 1─5. For further information on this classification, click here.
- Based on the results of one or more assessment reports, or in case of failure to demonstrate improvement from previous assessments, the GLOBALG.A.P. Secretariat forwards the information to the Integrity Surveillance Committee (ISC). The ISC then decides on CB sanctions. Made up of industry experts, ISC members are appointed by the Board, but work independently and meet at least twice a year. To ensure an impartial evaluation, the Integrity Assessment reports are anonymized before delivery to the ISC (i.e., they do not include identifiable information such as the producer name, GGN, country, certification body name, etc.).
- After ISC meetings, CBs are informed about their proposed sanctions and are given the opportunity to appeal within 14 days of notification.
Certification body sanctions
Sanctioning steps are not necessarily consecutive. In case of demonstrated fraud or severe breach of normative requirements, the highest sanctions can be applied immediately.
1st Warning
2nd Warning
Yellow Card
The sanction is published on the GLOBALG.A.P. website.
Red Card
The sanction is published on the GLOBALG.A.P. website.
The CB is not allowed to (re)issue new certificates.
Contract Cancellation
The sanction is published on the GLOBALG.A.P. website.
The license and certification agreement is cancelled.
Certification Integrity team activities (excl. training*)
*For an overview of CB training that took place around the world in 2020, please click here.
| ACTIVITY | SCHEME/STANDARD | SCOPE | N° OF DAYS |
|---|---|---|---|
| On-site certification body office assessment | GLOBALG.A.P. | - | 39 |
| Off-site certification body office assessment | GLOBALG.A.P. | - | 70.75 |
| On-site producer assessment | CoC | Crops | 8 |
| CoC (GGN Label) | Aquaculture | 10 | |
| AMAGAP | Crops FV | 5 | |
| IFA | Crops FV | 77 | |
| Producer emergency procedure (Off-site producer assessment) | CoC | Crops | 2.5 |
| IFA | Crops FV | 22.5 | |
| Add-on checklist review | FSMA PSR | - | 10.5 |
| GRASP | - | 8.5 | |
| NURTURE | - | 41.5 |
Classification of producer and CBO assessments in 2020
Hover over the bar chart sections to see the number of assessments in each class.
Class 5: Excellent performance. No incidences detected. The CB has shown a high level of implementation of the GLOBALG.A.P. requirements.
Class 4: Good performance. No systematic and serious non-conformances have been found.
Class 3: Improvement is needed.
Class 2: Poor performance. The CB needs immediate major improvement.
Class 1: Unacceptable performance, which puts the overall competency of the CB in question.
Selection method of Integrity Assessments at certification body offices
Selection method of Integrity Assessments at producer premises
Evolution of Integrity Assessment outcomes (2008-2020)
Hover over the bar chart sections to see the assessment results by class
CB office assessment outcomes
Producer assessment outcomes
< PREVIOUS
TRAINING
NEXT >
BRAND INTEGRITY