World Food Policy Volume 3, No. 2/Volume 4, No. 1, Fall16/Spring17 | Page 118

World Food Policy Figure 4: GI control system in Cambodia Source: Authors’ survey. organic). No laboratories are accredited the GI association, owing to success- to carry out analytical tests. ful domestic and international sales of The Kampot pepper GI is a per- Kampot pepper. fect illustration of how a multi-tiered system can work. It combines: (i) self-control at the producer/processor level (each producer/processor verifies the requirements of the specification using the “auto check list”); (ii) inspec- tion of all the members of the GI asso- ciation by the 18 inspectors working for the association’s internal control system; (iii) inspection of 30% of the producer/processor and of the internal control system by Ecocert, the certifica- tion body. In 2014, 20% of the pepper producers and 100% of the companies were reinspected by the external body. The organoleptic characteristics of the Kampot Pepper GI were verified by a sensory analysis panel. These checks showed that 95% of the producers kept their records properly, and that only a few needed to improve their re- cord-keeping. Both the internal and the external control systems were satisfac- tory. Certification costs were borne by The GI certification system in the Lao PDR is patterned after the French system. The DIP is the competent au- thority for official controls. Control of compliance with the GI specifications must be carried out by a certification/ control body that is (1) legally regis- tered or authorized to provide control or certification activities in Lao PDR and (2) 17 065-accredited. The certifi- cation/control body has to send an an- nual report to the DIP including a list of certified producers, operators, prod- ucts, quantities, and measures taken, if any. This system has not yet been im- plemented. Since 2008, the national insti- tution Lao Certification is in charge of providing certification services to the agriculture and food sectors. Currently it inspects and certifies that producers and producer groups comply with Lao national organic standards and national 118