Information for AFRISCO's clients
After reviewing the initial questionnaire and receiving payment, we contract an inspector to carry out an inspection at the applicant’s farm or operation. The inspector will arrange with you for a suitable day to visit. This inspection will be very thorough, and will include not only the physical premises, but also the enterprise’s accounts and record-keeping system. The inspector will fill in a number of detailed forms, and will ask you to countersign the truthfulness of the information provided. The inspector will then leave the farm, and will write a detailed report. We will review the report in detail, and write a recommendation on certification and any conditions that should apply.
The recommendation and any other information that we have asked you for, is then considered by the Afrisco Certification Committee. This is a group of people from producers, other inspectors, consumers, retailers, NGOs, etc. The Certification Committee then gives advice to Afrisco on the technical recommendation. This is an internationally accepted practice established to ensure that an independent body considers the matter – not the inspector, who having met the applicant may become biased. The certification committee thus receives:
Annex 2 has a diagram of the certification process. Working from the left, there is request, inspection & report, extra information from the operator if necessary, the decision of the Certification Committee. Then if certification is refused or you are not satisfied with the conditions set for certification you may also appeal to the Managing Director. We have an appeals process that we will describe to you.
The Managing Director is the person with whom you will usually deal will deal, and who will keep you informed of progress. Please note that you have the right to ask and receive copies of all the documents related to your certification. Most of these, such as the inspector’s report and our certification summary will be sent to you automatically, and we expect you to read these, and sign that you have done so.
The possible outcomes of the certification decision and the grounds for them will be one of the following:
An example of conditions that might be imposed is proof of an improved monitoring system for some aspect of production, or the requirement to set up a checklist for certain operations. When all conditions have been met we will ask you to sign an Organic Certification Contract. You should sign and return this so that we can then send you an organic certificate.
Dealing with complaints and appeals
Organic certification is to a set of standards, in this case to the Afrisco standards. If you believe that either the inspector or the reviewer has not assessed your enterprise fairly, in terms of the standards, or has not acted properly, you may appeal our decision, in writing. Your complaint will be investigated by management (often requiring more information from you) and will be presented to the Certification Committee (which is made up of independent people from various sectors of the industry) for review. If you disagree with the decision of that body, you may also appeal to the board. In either case, if the committee or board decides that the decision or action of management or inspectors was improper, it will be followed up, and you will be informed of the outcome