EurepGAP has taken a further step towards its goal of harmonising requirements for producers, by benchmarking QS Germany to its protocols.
It is a significant step for the European retailer partnership, which initially struggled for acceptance for its minimum standards for good agricultural practices programme in the homeland of its secretariat.
QS Qualität and Sicherheit GmbH, Germany signed an agreement with EurepGAP in Bonn on September 12, which means that QS GAP fruit and vegetable audits are now recognised as fully equivalent to EurepGAP. In return, QS recognises EurepGAP audits.
QS is an auditing system that covers production, packing, distribution and retail. It is not restricted to Germany, but it is wholly-owned by German shareholders. Its farm auditing activities are currently restricted to German producers, which will not now be required to have duplicate audits for EurepGAP and QS GAP. A single audit will suffice to fulfill requirements for both schemes.
EurepGAP secretary Kristian Moeller said: "We have responded to our members' requests to help simplify arrangements for producers and this is an important step forward. We look forward to continuing our close co-operation with QS in the future to see where we can find further opportunities to harmonise requirements."
