Emergency Procedure Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic

GLOBALG.A.P. has now published a solution for remote inspections, audits, and assessments: GLOBALG.A.P. Remote. During an expedited consultation phase lasting until 5 May 2020, stakeholders were invited to comment on the procedure. 46 organizations or individuals from more than 20 different countries offered their feedback.

GLOBALG.A.P. Remote is a response to the COVID-19 crisis and utilizes the established GLOBALG.A.P. system. It builds on the current rules for the standards and add-ons by providing guidelines on conducting remote inspections, audits, and assessments.

In many regions, inspectors and auditors cannot access production sites due to travel restrictions imposed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of this, annual inspections, audits, and assessments can be postponed by up to 6 months, as published in the GLOBALG.A.P. emergency procedure on 26 March 2020. This will continue to be the case. As a result, demands for inspections, audits, and assessments are expected to increase in the second half of 2020 to an extent that there will likely be a shortage of available inspectors and auditors. In addition, there has not been a solution for those certificates for which the 6-month extension has already expired.

Now, GLOBALG.A.P. Remote presents an alternative solution during this crisis period: 

  • Initial certification, re-certification, certificate scope extension, transfer, etc. may be granted based on fully remote inspections, audits, or assessments.

  • The solution is applicable to all GLOBALG.A.P. standards and add-ons, including localg.a.p./Primary Farm Assurance for each scope and sub-scope, but not to the Integrated Farm Assurance standard v5.3-GFS and the Produce Handling Assurance standard.
  • GLOBALG.A.P. Remote is applicable to all GLOBALG.A.P. add-ons as per approval by the add-on owner. A list of all the approved add-ons is published in ANNEX I. of the procedure.
  • Unless otherwise specified, the respective rules of the given standard and/or add-on apply.

  • Initial certifications based solely on GLOBALG.A.P. Remote shall not be considered accredited until the first on-site follow-up inspection/audit has been successfully completed (cf. section 4.4).
  • GLOBAG.A.P. Remote is to be implemented for all control points in the same way as an on-site inspection/audit and is valid during the COVID-19 pandemic until further notice. If travel restrictions are not in place, it cannot be used.


The GLOBALG.A.P. Remote interim final version of the procedure can be downloaded here .

It is valid from 15 May 2020. German, Italian, and Spanish translations will be available soon.

Nevertheless, this will be a work in progress. Changes and updates may be made as we receive feedback from the results of remote inspections, audits, and assessments. The document may be expanded with more annexes for each individual scope or sub-scope as necessary.

In the coming weeks, we will publish a guide for users of the GLOBALG.A.P. system on how to identify the certificates based on this GLOBALG.A.P. Remote interim certification procedure.

We have now been able to find a solution that avoids disruption in many critical supply chains. It enables the continued delivery of safe and responsibly produced food during the coronavirus pandemic.

See other COVID-19 related communications here .