Bangkok, 7th September 07 – Using its eighth annual conference being held in Thailand this week as an appropriate platform, EUREPGAP has announced it is changing its title and logo to GLOBALGAP.

The decision has been taken to reflect its expanding international role in establishing Good Agricultural Practices mutually agreed between multiple retailers and their suppliers.

In ten years since its inception – initially targetted at Europe – the voluntary organisation has seen its influence spread and led to the creation of identical criteria adopted as far afield as South and Central America, Africa, Australasia, and most recently Japan and Thailand.

Established equivalent schemes such ChileGAP, ChinaGAP, KenyaGAP, MexicoGAP, JGAP (Japan) and most recently ThaiGAP, are backed by national governments, retailers, producers and exporters.

“Currently GLOBALGAP covers over 80,000 certified producers in no less than 80 counties with others expected to follow,” explains Chairman Nigel Garbutt. “It has meant that through the adoption of good agricultural practices subject to regular independent monitoring that committed producers regardless of their scale can compete on an equal footing.

“The reason for the name change is that it now makes common sense to clarify our far wider role at a time when both producers and retailers are operating on an international level across national boundaries.

Kristian Moeller Secretary GLOBALGAP added “By positively aligning ourselves in this way, it allows us to identify and fit more closely and more clearly into the global supply chain.”

“The re-naming will be accompanied by a significantly improved website which will meet the information needs of our increasingly wider range of stakeholders.”