Currently, the following Certification Bodies are licensed to provide CanadaGAP® audit and certification services for all scopes of CanadaGAP certification:
Third-party Certification Bodies are licensed by the CanadaGAP Program to provide audit and certification services for CanadaGAP.
CanadaGAP Certification Bodies vary in their distribution of auditors, fees charged, regions/languages serviced, etc. When deciding on a Certification Body before enrolling in the CanadaGAP program, consider asking the following questions:
- What do you charge for an audit?
- Are there auditors in my area?
- What can I expect the auditor travel cost to be?
Certification Bodies are:
- Impartial and objective [third party from the CanadaGAP Program and the customer]
- Internationally accredited by a member of the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and subject to oversight by the accreditation body relative to the CB’s conformity assessment and certification activities
- Trained professionals responsible for assessing the operation’s conformance to program technical requirements
Certification Bodies are responsible for:
- Auditor recruitment and training
- Audit scheduling and assignment to auditors
- Delivery of audits
- Supervision of auditors, performance monitoring and calibration
- Review of audit results and Corrective Action Requests
- Certification decisions
- Handling audit billings
- Maintaining auditor and program participant databases
- Publishing and maintaining a searchable online registry of certified operators
Certification Bodies interested in becoming licensed to deliver CanadaGAP services should contact info@canadagap.ca or call (613) 829-4711 for more information about the requirements. A copy of the application form is available here.