One Size Fits all or Tailor-Made? Building Appropriate Certification
Systems for Geographical Indications in Southeast Asia
Figure 3: GI control system in Vietnam
Source: Authors’ survey.
charge of accrediting agencies for Vi-
etGap for crops, while the Department
of Livestock is in charge of accrediting
agencies for VietGap for livestock.
No certification bodies inspect
GIs, although there are many private
Vietnamese certification bodies accred-
ited by foreign accreditation organiza-
tions, such as Vinacert, which certifies
mangoes from Hoa Loc, tea from Van
Chan, and tea from Yen Bai against Vi-
etGAP. In the absence of Vietnamese
organic agriculture standards, foreign
certification bodies—e.g., Organic Ag-
riculture Thailand (ACT) in Thailand—
certify that Vietnamese products com-
ply with foreign organic agriculture
standards. This is the case of organic tea
from Yen Bai, or organic star anise from
Lang Son, two GI products.
The GI control system devel-
oped by Cambodia is very similar to
the French system. It is detailed and
includes an internal control by the GI
association, and is funded by a fee paid
by all members (producers, processors,
packagers) of the GI association, an ex-
ternal control by a private or public ISO
17 065-accredited certification body,
chosen by the GI association and ap-
proved by the Ministry of Commerce,
the authority responsible for official
controls. 26 The certification body au-
dits the internal control system and
inspects a subsample of GI association
members. As Cambodia does not yet
have an accreditation system for GI or
Cambodian certification bodies that
would be internationally recognized,
the two Cambodian GIs are controlled
and certified by foreign certification
bodies accredited in the EU. Indeed, the
only certification body in the country is
the Cambodian Organic Agriculture
Association (COrAA), a small private
organization in the sector promoting
organic agriculture in Cambodia that
is not recognized internationally but
conducts a few inspections each year
for foreign certification bodies willing
to certify foreign standards (e.g., GAP,
26 Art.26 and 27 of the GI Law 2014 and art.37 to 41 of the Prakas of 2016.
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