Certification
HOW CAN I GET A CERTIFICATION?
Global Standards Certification Process
Any organization or institution who wishes to certify their management system based on a national or international standard, must make sure it maintains a documented system that has been implemented based on such standard’s requirements while complying with the regulations of the industry’s sector it belongs to, as well as its client’s requirements.
Nowadays, the average time invested by organizations in the documentation and implementation of their management system is of approximately 10 to 12 hours. This may vary depending on the size and sector of the organization, as well as its resources and the applicable standards. The Management’s commitment and the consultant’s experience are key factors to the duly and timely achievement of goals.
Throughout the development and implementation of the system, it is recommended to contact the certification body to plan the times and stages of the certification process. The organization must make sure it meets the following criteria based on the applicable standard:
- Maintain a documented system pursuant to the applicable standard
- Have a clearly defined scope of the certification
- Keep evidence of the system’s implementation for at least three months *Recommendation
- Maintain the competency of the internal auditors to conduct internal audits
- Keep records of at least one internal audit
- Store evidence of the implementation of documented processes, records control, actions taken, and internal audits, among others
- Keep records related to the Management’s commitment that demonstrates the compliance of all the requirements of the applicable standards
- Make sure that the policy corresponds to the defined objectives. Both should be documented pursuant to the requirements of the applicable standard.
These are essential criteria that must be met before beginning with the certification process with any of the standards, as missing one or more will prevent the organization from obtaining a certificate. The certification services may not be provided unless the organization has an acceptable profile for our activities.
Our services may also be denied if the scope or activity in the application is not part of our catalog or breaches our internal policies or codes of impartiality.
Do you want to certify yourself personally? know all the information we have available for you Personal certification
CERTIFICATION STEPS
Once Global Standards is selected by your organization to perform its certification process, the contract must be signed by mutual agreement by both parties.
The pre-audit will be considered an optional (unofficial) event, and the processes to be audited will be selected by mutual agreement with your organization. The purpose of this exercise is to replicate a sample of the certification process (plant tour, document reviews, and interviews with personnel). As a result, it shows, in general terms, the level of implementation of the management system.
Times and processes are estimated by mutual agreement. It is recommended that the audit days allocated to this event do not exceed 80% of the total days calculated for the certification audit.
For the FSSC22000 scheme, areas of concern are issued and addressed internally within the system of the organization undergoing certification, but are not reported to the technical committee for food safety or to the FSSC22000 platform.
Our objective will be to evaluate the system's level of documentation against the applicable standard and ensure that the client has considered the requirements. This event is official for the certification process. Any NC (Non-Conformity) detected during this stage must be resolved by the client before proceeding to stage 2.
Once any NC detected in stage 1 has been closed, Global Standards will evaluate the system's implementation level against the applicable standard. The development of this audit is carried out by interviewing those involved in the processes and validating evidence of implementation. Any major NC detected during this phase must be closed and verified prior to the certificate's issuance.
The time allocated for the execution of this event is calculated using international tables approved by the IAF (International Accreditation Forum), taking into account the organization's size, the number of employees, the scope of certification, and the applicable standard. Any minor NC detected during this stage must be resolved prior to the issuance of the certificate.
Once the certificate is delivered, the organization's name is uploaded to our website and can be viewed via the QR code on the certificate. Alternatively, they are reported on web pages or on applicable platforms, such as IAFCertsSearch, FSSC22000, FSSC24000, SQF, among others.
The certificates we issue in ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 22000, and ISO 37001 maintain the international seals of ANAB (ANSI National Accreditation Board of the USA) and IAF (International Accreditation Forum).
Safety certificates that maintain traceability in accordance with GFSI (Global Food Safety Initiative) requirements use the FSSC 22000 or SQF international seals, as appropriate.
Global Standards' objective in this event is to evaluate the continuity and conformity of the system with the applicable standard. For this purpose, a partial sample of the organization's main processes is selected, with a focus on auditing transformation processes and points related to system administration (document and record control, corrective and preventive actions, non-conforming product, management reviews, internal audits, among others). The minimum time allocated to execute these events is calculated as one-third of the total time invested in the certification process (Stages 1 and 2).
Follow-up events are viable options for extending or reducing the scope of the certification, thereby optimizing the visit. For this, the account executive should be consulted beforehand to review or make the necessary time calculations according to the activity(ies) to be included or excluded.
By mutual agreement with the client and for the benefit of the system, it is decided to hold the event semi-annually or annually. Per international requirements, the organization must receive at least one follow-up audit per year; the scheduling of these events will be based on the initial execution date of the certification audit (Stage 2) and will be limited to the certification decision or registration date.
*Any date beyond this date may result in suspension of certification (consult your account executive for more information).
This event evaluates whether the system complies with the requirements of the applicable standard and how it has performed during the 3-year certification cycle. This audit must be performed before the certificate expires. The outcome of the event must be satisfactory, and any major “non-conformities” detected during this phase must be closed and verified before the certificate is issued to renew the 3-year validity.
The minimum time allocated for the execution of this event is calculated based on two-thirds of the total time invested in the certification processes (stages 1 and 2). Once the event is successfully executed, a new certificate is issued with a validity of three years, while the SQF Code has an annual validity (audit deadlines for this program are calculated differently).
*If the organization plans to include or exclude activities within the scope of the certificate, this should ideally be discussed when quoting for the next certification cycle.
GlobalG.A.P. has announced the final upgrade of the Integrated Farm Assurance (IFA) standard from Edition 5.4-1-GFS and IFA 5.2 to Edition 6 in two parallel editions: IFA v6-GFS and IFA v6-Smart. Both versions have been developed from the IFA v5 standard with the support of the GlobalG.A.P. technical committees. More information is available at the following link: Transition Global GAP V6
To extend the scope of a certificate, it is recommended to do so at follow-up or recertification events; if this is already necessary for your organization, you can request a special event. To do so, you must first request a quotation in which aspects such as employee ranges, risk levels, and time allocation, among others.
Likewise, scope reductions can be made during follow-up and recertification events, at the client's discretion and in consultation with the assigned audit team.
The suspension of certification is due to various causes or very specific non-compliances. Learn more about this process HERE.
When the reason for suspension is satisfactorily resolved, the certificate will be reactivated, bringing it back into compliance with the applicable standard and international requirements.
Withdrawal of a certification may be due to an unresolved suspension or technical situations related to this action, such as a Class 1 recall (see recall classifications).
The withdrawal of a certificate can be the result of an unsolved suspension or a technical situation that lead to this measure, such as Class 1 Recall (See Recall Classifications).
For transitions or updates to standards, mandatory documents, technical specifications, accreditation rules, or other items, the official communication from the certification committee should be consulted for the steps to follow and the deadline for completing the change.
Transitions in process:
- Global G.A.P. Transition IFA V5.4-1-GFS E IFA V5.2 TO IFA V6-GFS E IFA V6-SMART.
- ISO 37001:2025
- SQF Code V10
- ISO 21001:2025
Upcoming transitions:
-ISO 14001
-ISO 9001
-ISO 19011
-FSSC 22000 V7
-FSSC DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
Consult for specific scheme or standard information here
Do you have questions about your certification?
Send us your information and receive our help