Certification Process

Inquiry

• GITCHIA receives customer inquiry by phone or email.
• Tell us about your company, identify contact information, and describe your needs and goals.
• Discussion points include determining type of industry, product line, number of products, whether for domestic and/or export and customer’s projected timeline needs.

Request For Application & Pricing

• Application and process and pricing overview provided to potential customers following initial email inquiry or phone call discussion.
• GITCHIA process and pricing overview is confidential and proprietary between GITCHIA and customer prospects.
• GITCHIA requests prospective customer to send product ingredient statements and production process flowcharts.

Submission and Receipt of Application with Product Statements & Flowcharts

GITCHIA receives application and product information to:

• begin drafting the service agreement,
• commence product review and analysis, and
• add customer facility location(s) to the audit facility inspection schedule

Service Agreement Executed

• The Service Agreement with pricing and terms and conditions needs to be executed by authorized signers for both parties.  Upon execution, GITCHIA provides its logos and proceeds with the review and approval of products submitted and then arranges for the facility audit stage.

Product Description

• Tell us about the product(s) for certification.
• The ingredient component list will help us determine if the product.
• The primary label brand name and any private labels (i.e., when your company’s name does not appear) are required.

Initial Audit and Evaluation

• Following the successful completion of the product and ingredient review, a facility audit will be scheduled with an GITCHIA Quality Assurance Auditor.
• Audit date is only finalized once service agreement is signed and GITCHIA QA has approved products for certification.

Audit Facility Inspection Scheduled and Completed

Upon the successful completion of the facility audit inspection visit, customer is invoiced for:

• Audit inspection fee
• facility audit inspection travel expenses and auditor per man day salary
• Facility certification – good through end of current calendar year (or as negotiated if certified in 4th quarter)
• Product review – one-time charge per product
• Product certification – per product good through end of current calendar year (or as negotiated if certified in 4th quarter)

Certification Issued

• Upon the receipt of payment for all services, a formal certificate will be issued and production may commence as certified.
• GITCHIA logo and seal will be forwarded to be used on packaging. The certification logo can be added to your package upon your scheduled package refresh.

Additional Information

• Upon receipt of payment, facility and product certification is issued – scanned original by email and hard copy by mail or courier as requested.
• The maintenance of certification program requires the close involvement of the facility QA and production supervisors.

Procedure

1. Decide Which Certification Is Right For You:
   Each GITCHIA certification has specific education and experience requirements. To determine which certification product is right for you, you must verify all eligibility requirements for the different certifications as well as your professional needs.
2. Prepare For the Exam:
   All certification candidates are responsible for their own study and preparation for the examination. No specific set of courses or curriculum of study is required as part of the certification process. Likewise, the completion of a recognized GITCHIA course or program of study will significantly enhance your chance of passing a GITCHIA certification examination. You can verify the list of recognized organization that offers GITCHIA official training sessions.
3. Apply and Schedule the Exam:
   Candidates shall contact one of our partners, who provide training courses and exam sessions worldwide. To find training provider in your region, check here www.gitchiagroup.com 
4. Take the Exam: Candidates will be required to arrive at least 30 minutes before the beginning of the certification exam. Candidates arriving late will not be given additional time to compensate for the late arrival and may be denied entry to the examination room. All candidates will need to present a valid identity card (driver’s license, or passport) to the invigilator and the exam confirmation letter. The duration of the exam varies according to the type of examination taken (see description of the different exams for more details).
5. Receive Your Exam Results:
   It takes 6 to 8 weeks for participants to receive their results. All results are sent via email. The examination results will not include an exact numerical score (mark); rather the candidate will only be given a pass or fail status in their email. In the case of a failure, the results will be accompanied with the list of domains in which you had a mark lower than the passing grade to provide guidance to prepare yourself to retake the exam.
6. Apply For Certification:
   All participants who successfully pass their certification exam (or an equivalent accepted by GITCHIA) are entitled to apply for the GITCHIA credentials they were examined for. Specific educational and professional requirements may be needed for you to be GITCHIA certified. Candidates will need to fill out the online certification application form (that can be accessed via their GITCHIA online profile), including contact details of references who will be contacted to validate the candidate’s professional experience. Once GITCHIA will have validated that you fulfill all certification requirements, you will be informed by e-mail of our decision and you will receive your certificate by e-mail in electronic format. The application payment for the certificate is not refundable. This is due to the initiation of the procedures concerning the verification of the application, verification of the evidence submitted by the candidates, as well as the engagement of the relevant units in this process.
7. Maintain Your Certification:
   The GITCHIA certifications are valid for three years. To maintain his/her certification, the applicant must demonstrate every year that he/she is still performing tasks that are related to the certification. Every year, GITCHIA certified professionals will need to provide GITCHIA with the number of hours of auditing and/or implementation related tasks they have performed with the contact details of individuals who can validate these tasks, as well as paying their yearly certification maintenance fees. GITCHIA will randomly select some referrals to contact to validate this experience and education.