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Attention: unannounced surveillance audit for producers located in Germany and other countries of Europe

Thursday, March 21, 2019

Due to increasing market demands from stakeholders and governments and to keep on the same level with other feed and food schemes, GMP+ International has decided to improve the current certification rules for unannounced audits.

In accordance with article 11.1 of the GMP+ A1 General Regulation, this change is implemented by an executive decree. This executive decree will be valid until publication of the new GMP+ C documents on the website of GMP+ International.


3 Things you must know

  • The unannounced surveillance audit will become mandatory for producers located in Europe, starting with producers in Germany.
  • The requirements for the unannounced surveillance audit for producers located in the Netherlands will remain but streamlined as much as possible with the requirements of producers located in Germany/Europe.
  • Companies certified for a production scope, but outsourcing their production are also to be audited unannounced.

The following requirements are applicable:

An unannounced audit as part of the certification will be mandatory for producers in Europe. Producers in Germany have to arrange this this year (2019), and producers in the rest of Europe have to arrange this in 2020 at the latest. See the next bullets how you can arrange this.

  • The unannounced surveillance audit shall be secured in the certification agreement between certification bodies and producers located in Germany producers at the latest 31.12.2019. All producers located in Germany shall be unannounced audited at the latest 31.12.2021.
  • The unannounced surveillance audit shall be secured in the certification agreement between certification bodies and producers located in Europe at the latest 31.12.2020. All producers located in Europe shall be unannounced audited at the latest 31.12.2022.
  • Once the unannounced audit is contractually secured, registration in the GMP+ database is mandatory. This is applicable for certification agreements secured between the certification bodies and producers located in Germany, other countries of Europe and the Netherlands.
  • An unannounced surveillance audit will replace an announced surveillance audit during the certification cycle, but cannot replace an initial- and/or re-certification audit.
  • The following prior notice periods to perform the unannounced surveillance audit are applicable:
    - Producer located in the Netherlands: not allowed
    - Producers located in Germany: 1 working day
    - Producers located in (the rest of) Europe: 2 working days.
  • The audit times for the unannounced surveillance audit will be the same as for the announced surveillance audit (Annex 2 of the GMP+C6).
  • The options for postponing or refusing the unannounced surveillance audit as mention in chapter 2.4 of the GMP+ C6 can apply.
  • The applicable countries in Europe for the implementation of the unannounced audit in certification agreement between the certification bodies and certified companies at the latest 31.12.2020 are:
    Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Kosovo, Croatia, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Nord – Macedonia, Malta, Moldavia, Monaco, Montenegro, Norway Ukraine, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain, Czech Republic, Vatican City, United Kingdom, Sweden and Switzerland.