National Interpretation Guideline Approval (NIG) Procedure

See Frequently Asked Questions about NIGs here.

See the NIG approval procedure and timeline illustrated in this flowchart.

Approval Steps

  1. The NTWG submits the National Interpretation Guideline (NIG) to the GLOBALG.A.P.- Secretariat for approval by downloading the latest template here.

  2. The GLOBALG.A.P. Secretariat conducts a technical review of the NIG. In case of any technical or formal discrepancy, the guideline is returned to the group, which then has four weeks to propose amendments. The maximum time for the NTWG to respond is eight weeks. After this, the process will re-start. The GLOBALG.A.P. Secretariat summarizes all the consultation responses in a technical review report, which evaluates the amendment proposals, if any.

  3. Once the technical review requirements are met, the NIG and the technical review report go through a peer review for a period of four weeks, where the relevant GLOBALG.A.P. Technical Committees, members and certification bodies make written technical comments including justification. In case of any technical or formal discrepancy, the NTWG has four weeks to propose the amendments to the GLOBALG.A.P. Secretariat.

  4. The GLOBALG.A.P. Secretariat prepares a final peer review report that summarizes and evaluates the peer review comments and the amendment proposals. This is then sent together with the final National Interpretation Guideline to the relevant Technical Committees for provisional approval within four weeks. At this stage, the relevant Technical Committees can either recommend the NIG for approval or reject it.

  5. Once the Technical Committee(s) provisionally approves the National Interpretation Guideline, the GLOBALG.A.P. Secretariat officially approves it. The Secretariat then informs all the relevant stakeholders by making an announcement and uploading the NIG on the website as well as informing all GLOBALG.A.P. members, approved certification bodies and relevant accreditation bodies.

  6. GLOBALG.A.P. can withdraw or revise the National Interpretation Guidelines at any time on an individual point basis if the global integrity of the standard is challenged.