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CIPRO - The Certification Integrity Program

The Certification Integrity Program (CIPRO) monitors and assesses the performance of all GLOBALG.A.P.-approved certification bodies. It ensures that certification bodies are conducting their audits in line with GLOBALG.A.P guidelines and procedures and verifies that the same criteria and quality standards have been used on a consistent basis.

CIPRO sets into place an ongoing process of quality assurance, improvement transparency. This includes monitoring approved certification bodies, following up reports of excess maximum residue levels, and providing competence in food-crisis management, technical support and training.

Transparent Monitoring

To ensure impartiality within the Certification Integrity Program, each of the four active bodies within the program have clearly defined responsibilities:

The GLOBALG.A.P Board steers and supervises the program and provides the legal framework for regulating the CBs.

The GLOBALG.A.P Integrity Team is part the GLOBALG.A.P. Secretariat and consists of the auditors and inspectors who perform the CIPRO assessments.

The GLOBALG.A.P. Integrity Surveillance Committee (ISC) makes the final decision case by case concerning sanctions based on the CIPRO assessment reports.

The GLOBALG.A.P. Secretariat organizes, implements and enforces the decisions by the Integrity Surveillance Committee and facilitates improvement of the program.

How CIPRO Works

GLOBALG.A.P. auditors assess all certification bodies (CBs) at head office and a sample of their producers directly to verify whether they are operating in accordance with the General Regulations and Control Points and Compliance Criteria.

Types of assessments:
- Office assessments: check the certification process of a CB. An integrity assessor examines the GLOBALG.A.P. certification process of selected growers based on a document review.
- Producer assessments: check the certification body’s inspection performance. An integrity assessor re-inspects a grower and compares the assessment results with the CB’s latest report.
The auditors then inform CBs and their accreditation bodies of any deviations, and forward their audit reports to the Integrity Surveillance Committee (ISC), which makes the final decision on a CB’s approval status.
A system of sanctions has been set up as a tool for enforcing compliance. The ISC proposes sanctions based on the result of the CIPRO assessments, which are then enforced by the GLOBALG.A.P. Secretariat.

Sanctioning Steps:
Failing to comply after the second warning, a CB receives a Yellow Card, which gives the CB approx. 8 months to achieve compliance.
During this period, it may continue to contact clients, however the Yellow Card is publicly displayed on our website and is only
removed after a successful reassessment process.

An unsuccessful reassessment leads to a Red Card. In this case, the CB is prohibited from (re) issuing new certificates for a maximum period of 6 months. This is also published on our website.

An unsuccessful final reassessment results in the cancellation of the License and Certification Agreement for at least 2 years.

Accreditation and Cooperation with Accreditation Bodies

GLOBALG.A.P. approval is based on ISO/IEC 17065 accreditation, but the GLOBALG.A.P. Certification Integrity Program does not duplicate the work of the accreditation or certification bodies. It acts as a complementary measure for quality assurance purposes. GLOBALG.A.P. shares all the results of the integrity assessments with accreditation bodies, thereby contributing valuable information, input and support to their work. As a member of the International Accreditation Forum (IAF), GLOBALG.A.P. also facilitates the cooperation and communication between the various accreditation bodies through organizing workshops and meetings.