PGS-India certification is a group decision that a Regional Council endorses — not an inspection that a certifier performs. Chapter 5 of the official guidelines lays out the steps, and the part most groups get wrong is what status each farmer can actually be given.
The process in brief
- 3+Peer appraisers per appraisal team
- Each seasonEvery farm appraised at least once
- 30 daysRC must decide — or the group's decision is auto-approved
- 3 / 4 yrsMaximum time on PGS-Green: annual crops / plantation crops
The Full Sequence
sign pledges"] --> B["RC grants
registration"] B --> C["Peer appraisal
every season"] C --> D["Group decides
each farmer's status"] D --> E["Upload summary sheet
to RC"] E --> F["RC approves
within 30 days"] F --> G["Scope certificate"] G --> H["Upload actual yields"] H --> I["RC approves yields
TCs issued"]
Peer Appraisal Rules
- Each peer appraisal team should have a minimum of 3 peer appraisers, at least one of whom is literate and well versed in filling the appraisal forms.
- Reciprocal review between two farms is not allowed — if A reviews B, B does not review A.
- Every farm must be reviewed at least once in each season.
- Peer reviewers from other groups, consumer or trader representatives, or a state agriculture officer may join as invited members — not mandatory, but it adds credibility.
PGS-Green or PGS-Organic?
| Situation | Status |
|---|---|
| Full conversion period completed, no major or serious non-compliance | PGS-Organic |
| Still in conversion, or one or more major non-compliances | PGS-Green |
| Major non-compliance, other than prohibited substances | PGS-Organic may be downgraded to PGS-Green for one or two seasons; continued default can mean exclusion |
| Use of prohibited substances — chemical fertilisers, pesticides, hormones | Serious non-compliance: status reset to zero; the member is excluded or re-registered and must serve the full conversion period |
| Still unable to reach PGS-Organic after 3 years (annual crops) or 4 years (plantation/permanent crops) | Sanctioned and excluded from the group |
Only crops sown after the RC approves the group's registration qualify for PGS-Green. Counting crop seasons from before that date is itself a major non-compliance — and the group's certification status is downgraded back to registration.
What the Regional Council Does — and Can't Do
On receiving the summary sheet, the RC checks it for completeness, compares it with its own physical evaluation, and weighs past non-compliances, complaints, residue results and advisory follow-up. It then approves, returns or rejects the group's decision.
An RC cannot pick and choose individual farmers. It approves or rejects the group's decision as a whole. If it has a concern about one farmer — a positive residue test, or an appraisal it thinks was faked — and the group does nothing about it, the RC should withhold approval from the entire group.
The RC must decide within 30 days of the summary sheet being uploaded or the hard copy submitted. If it doesn't, the group's decision is auto-approved on the website and a non-compliance is recorded against the RC. If the RC returns the decision for correction, the group has 15 days to resubmit.
Documents the Group Must Keep
- Each member's application form with the last year's farm history.
- Each member's signed pledge.
- The agreement with the RC.
- Individual peer appraisal sheets for the last four seasons (24 months), until the RC's physical inspection.
- Attendance and proceedings registers for meetings, and for trainings.
- Season-wise copies of the peer appraisal summary sheet sent to the RC.
After the Certificate
Scope certificates are issued with estimated yields from the peer appraisal. After harvest the group uploads actual yields; once the RC approves them (net of self-consumption), transaction certificates can be generated online for each farmer separately, in one go or in smaller lots. Between two PGS-India registered operators, an online TC transfers the stock without paper.
Every deadline in this process is collected in the deadlines episode.