HFGA Verification Scheme Rules

These rules govern how conformity with an HFGA standard is verified, recorded, and withdrawn. They apply to every HFGA standard and to every Product Conformance Profile registered under HFGA-PCP-00.

• Applies to: verification of lots, verification of registered products, the evidence a declarant submits, and the handling of non-conformance.
• Does not apply to: what a grade means (that is the relevant standard) or what a product declares (that is its profile).
• These rules are versioned and revised independently of the standards they serve, so that sampling practice can improve without reopening a ratified standard.

A declarant selects a level in its profile, or per lot where no profile exists. The level determines who draws the sample and who examines the evidence — not what the thresholds are, which never change.

• A claim shall state the verification level it rests on. "Verified" without a level is not a conforming claim.
• Levels are not quality grades. An L1 TX-A lot and an L4 TX-A lot meet identical thresholds; they differ in who checked.
• HFGA publishes the level alongside every registered profile, so a buyer can require a minimum level in a purchase specification.

The evidence bundle is the paperwork that makes a claim checkable. Each item is tied to the clause it satisfies, so a bundle can be assessed without re-reading the whole standard.

Event-triggered re-checks are required, at the declarant's initiative, on any of: a new variety, a new growing region, a change of retting or decortication site, a change of process chemistry, or a change of laboratory.

• Every document in a bundle is recorded with its issuer, issue date, and any expiry. An expired document does not satisfy its item.
• A cryptographic hash of each submitted file is recorded with the bundle, so a document cannot be silently substituted after assessment.
• Laboratory reports are accepted only from laboratories accredited to ISO/IEC 17025 for the method in question, and are verified against the issuing laboratory where any doubt arises.
• Records are submitted by the declarant, who remains responsible for their accuracy regardless of which party in its supply chain produced them.
• Retention follows the standard being verified — three years under HFGA-TX-US-01, five under HFGA-TX-EU-01.

Verification frequency adapts to demonstrated performance rather than sitting at a fixed rate. A new declarant is checked harder; a consistent one earns a reduced rate; a failure removes it.

• Sampling within a lot follows the sampling clause of the standard being verified.
• A reduced regime is not available at L1 or L2 — a self-declared or document-only check is already the lighter option and does not compound.
• Regime changes are recorded on the register with their effective date.

Every check produces a Lot Verification Record, whatever its outcome. Records are the unit a claim cites and the unit a buyer verifies.

• Record ID format: HFGA-LVR-<year>-<sequence>.
• A record states: the profile or lot verified, the standard and version, the grade claimed, the verification level, the sampling regime, the evidence assessed, the measured results against their limits, the verdict, and the assessor.
• Records are published at a stable verification URL. A conformity claim that cites a record shall link to it.
• A failed check produces a record too. Suppressing failures would make the register meaningless — the value of a public register is that it is complete.
• Records do not expire, but they are dated. A claim resting on a record older than one season shall state the record's date adjacent to the claim.

• A declarant may appeal any finding to the Technical Committee within 30 days. The referee-test mechanism in the relevant standard settles disputes about a measured result.
• Suspension is reversible on corrective action; withdrawal requires re-registration.
• Withdrawals and suspensions are published on the register, with the reason class but without commercially confidential detail.
• A withdrawn profile's historical Lot Verification Records remain published. They were true when issued, and removing them would rewrite the record.

• Reading any HFGA standard, declaring conformity against it, registering a Product Conformance Profile, and using the conformity mark are free.
• Independent verification at L3 and L4 is a service charged at cost, covering laboratory work and assessor time. Charges are published; they are not per-tonne and not a royalty.
• A declarant operating at L1 or L2 through its own accredited laboratory pays HFGA nothing.
• Fee status has no bearing on a verdict. An assessor is not informed of a declarant's payment status.
• Impartiality: where a Committee member, officer, or affiliate of the association holds a commercial interest in a declarant, that interest is disclosed on the register and the interested party takes no part in the registration, assessment, or verdict. The same published criteria and the same form apply to every declarant.

• Maintained by the HFGA Standards Technical Committee alongside the standards it serves.
• Revised independently of the standards. A change to these rules does not change any grade threshold and does not invalidate an existing Lot Verification Record.
• Issued for a 60-day public comment period before ratification, with a written disposition for every comment.
• No verification service operates against a standard still at Draft status, other than as an explicitly labelled pilot whose findings feed the comment record.
• Comments to standards@hfga.io.