In order to encourage Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and Good Field Collection Practices (GFCP) in medicinal plants and enhance quality and safety of these plants, the National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB), in collaboration with the Quality Council of India (QCI), has launched a Voluntary Certification Scheme for Medicinal Plant Produce (VCSMPP).
ISCOP has been provisionally accredited for VCSMPP by the Quality Council of India (QCI).
Based on international best practices, the Scheme is driven by a multi-stakeholder Steering Committee at the helm and has based its certification criteria on the WHO Guidelines for good agricultural and field collection practices. The system of certification is based on guidelines provided in the international standard, ISO 17067, which guides development of product certification schemes worldwide and the certification bodies approved under the Scheme would eventually be accredited as per international standard, ISO 17065, by the National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB), a constituent Board of QCI. Since NABCB has achieved international equivalence for its accreditation programme for product certification bodies by signing the multilateral mutual recognition arrangement of the International Accreditation Forum (IAF), which is increasingly forming the basis of free flow of goods among countries through bilateral or regional free trade agreements, it is expects to facilitate exports of India medicinal plants in the world market.
It is expected that the Scheme would benefit not only the cultivators or collector of herbs but also the AYUSH industry with supply of assured quality raw material, traders and other users of herbs, and ultimately the consumers of herbal based products.
Good Agricultural Practices (GAP)