Japan goes EUREPGAP: Harmonization of Farm Assurance in Asia

EUREPGAP announces the approval of the JGAP standard. JGAP, the Japanese Good Agricultural Practice standard, was developed through the collaborative effort among Japanese producers, retailers and distributors, taking into account the unique agricultural condition of Japan.

“Since it is realistic and understandable for these stakeholders, it has been rapidly spreading across Japan,” said Hisanobu Katayama, President of JGAP. "Establishment of EurepGAP equivalence will tremendously help JGAP to be further accepted by producers, retailers and distributors in the country. We are very glad that we can further promote the importance of GAP principles in Japan."

Kristian Moeller, Secretary EUREPGAP, said: “It was only 15 months ago when we announced the start of the journey towards global harmonization of Good Agricultural Practice in Japan. We congratulate JGAP to this achievement!”
The formal agreement to initiate the process was signed during a GAP National Conference held in Tokyo on 27/28 April 06.

The announcement of JGAP`s global recognition recognition comes right in time before EUREPGAP`s annual event in Bangkok on 6th and 7th September 2007. A representative will explain JGAP`s approach among other expert speakers from more than 13 countries who will share their views and experience in setting up farm assurance certification in Asia.

The Conference Programme and online registration is available at the special Event website www.eurepgap2007.org.

EUREPGAP Asia Conference
6/7 September 2007
BANGKOK, Thailand

Claudia Meifert

EUREPGAP c/o FoodPLUS GmbH,
Spichernstr. 55, 50672 Koeln, Germany
Koeln HRB 35211, Managing Director Dr. Kristian Moeller
Tel: +49 (0) 2 21-5 79 93-82; Fax: -89
www.eurepgap.org - mailto:meifert@foodplus.org
The Global Partnership for Safe and Sustainable Agriculture

EurepGAP started in 1997 as an initiative by retailers belonging to the Euro-Retailer Produce Working Group (EUREP). British retailers in conjunction with supermarkets in continental Europe were the driving forces. They reacted on growing concerns by the consumers with product safety, environmental and labor standards and decided to take more responsibility for what happened in the supply chain. On the other side the development of common certification standards were also in the interest of many producers. Those with contractual relations to several retailers complained that they had to undergo multiple audits against different criteria every year. On this background EUREP started to work on harmonized standards and procedures for the development of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) in conventional agriculture.

EurepGAP is one of the very few globally operating standardisation organizations that enjoy a high level of political and financial independence from the public sector as well as from individual member influence and shareholder agendas.
To keep its independence EurepGAP does not conduct the certification process itself. Farmers or farmer groups can only be certified against the EurepGAP criteria by authorized Certification Bodies (CB). A EurepGAP Certification Body is a company fulfilling the requirements for approved EurepGAP CBs to grant EurepGAP certification in the relevant product scope. Currently EurepGAP is working with over 100 CBs in more than 70 countries.

EurepGAP members include retailers, producers/farmers and associate members from the input and service side of agriculture. Governance is by a Board which is chaired by an independent Chairperson. The Board also agrees on the activity plan of the organisation. Sector Committees discuss and decide upon product and sector specific issues. All committees have 50% retailer and 50% producer/supplier representation and hereby creating an efficient partnership. The work of the Committees is supported by FoodPLUS, a not for profit limited company based in Cologne, Germany, fulfilling a secretariat function for EurepGAP.

This release was published on openPR.