GLOBALG.A.P.’s philosophy is “Think globally, act locally”. This is one of the reasons why GLOBALG.A.P. members have established National Technical Working Groups (NTWGs) in several countries to help them adapt the universal GLOBALG.A.P. standard to a local scale. There are currently 22 such groups around the world, and Mexico is one of their representatives.

These working groups identify those criteria that according to each country or region can be implemented and evaluated in a different or specific way and develop National Interpretation Guidelines. These guidelines guide certification bodies and growers on how best to implement the GLOBALG.A.P. Checkpoints and Compliance Criteria at the national level.

On December 9, 2022, Veggies from Mexico officially joined the NTWG of Mexico and will actively participate in the decisions taken to evaluate and improve the criteria for the application of the standard. With this, the agricultural companies belonging to our community will have first-hand information, thus remaining at the forefront.

The group is made up of representatives of certifiers, distributors, agricultural companies, and other interested institutions, most of them allies of Veggies from Mexico. Some of the institutions represented are Aneberries, Driscolls, NSF, ANCE, Control Union, and Normex, among others.

The main activities and tasks of the NTWGs are:

1. Translating and correcting GLOBALG.A.P. official documents into the languages of each country and the NTWGs, as well as keeping the documents updated.

2.       Develop interpretation guides in the language of the country and English.

3.       Support GLOBALG.A.P. committees with proposals for protocol revisions. All proposals for revision of GLOBALG.A.P. documents are sent to the Secretariat and subsequently presented to the Stakeholder Committees.

4.       Report periodically to the GLOBALG.A.P. Secretariat on issues relevant to the integrity of the system.

5.       Participate in the peer review of accreditation/recognition activities of programs operating in their country, when requested by FoodPLUS.