GAP (Good Agriculture Practice) has been developed by food industries, producers' organizations, governments and NGOs to address the environment, economic and social sustainability on the farm and ensure the safe and quality food. GAP has been promoted by the government as guidance of the food safety on the farm, but it is not regulation.
Three European Union schemes of geographical indications and traditional specialties, known as protected designation of origin (PDO), protected geographical indication (PGI), and traditional specialities guaranteed (TSG)
Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS) are locally focused quality assurance systems. They certify producers based on active participation of stakeholders and are built on a foundation of trust, social networks and knowledge exchange.
Moreover, to export organic products to Switzerland it is necessary to comply with the requirements of national and EC regulation into force, together with the additional requirements of Bio Suisse standards, plus receiving an inspection from the control body that controls and certify the company for EC Reg. 834/07.
In Lao PDR the inspection and certification of organic agriculture is the inspection and certification of production, processing systems, NTFP harvest and group production systems. The certification unit, Department of Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.
The Japanese Agricultural Standard (JAS) was fully implemented in 2001 and revised in 2005. All JAS certifiers are required to be accredited by the Ministry of Agriculture. The term "organic" may be used only by certified producers.
The Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) is the controlling body for organic certification. The government only becomes involved with organic certification at export. There are several AQIS-approved certifying organizations who issue Organic Produce Certificates.
The Canadian Organic Products Regulations (COR) was implemented at the federal level in 2009, which is a mandatory certification required for agricultural products represented as organic in import, export and inter-provincial trade, and those that carry the federal organic logo. The COR is a benchmark of NOP (USDA).
The French organic certification was introduced in 1985 with “AB - Agriculture Biologique” mark, which is fulfills the EU regulation for organic food. The certification process is overseen a public institute "Agence française pour le développement et la promotion de l'agriculture biologique" (usually abbreviated "Agence bio"). The actual certification authorities include a number of different institutes.
The German national organic label was introduced in 2001. The “Bio label” has gained widespread popularity and its popularity extends to neighboring countries like Austria, Switzerland and France.