Structure

If your company would like to use the ‘Geprüfte Qualität – Bayern’ seal to mark your products, please contact a ‘licensee’. Licensees are permitted to grant you the right to use the seal after the associated testing. Your company will then be known as a ‘seal user’. The seal and its specifications were developed by the Free State of Bavaria, making the latter the ‘seal sponsor’.

So how does it all work in detail?

Seal sponsor

The sponsor of the ‘Geprüfte Qualität – Bayern’ marking is the Free State of Bavaria represented by the Bavarian State Ministry for Food, Agriculture and Forestries. The seal sponsor decides on the awarding of licences and approval of quality and test regulations.

Licensee

Licensees grant the right to use the marking to companies in the European Union that are active in the agriculture, food and food trading industries (seal users). Only companies who have signed a seal usage agreement with a licensee may use the ‘Geprüfte Qualität – Bayern’ seal.

Organisations, associations or consortia in the European Union who are active in the agriculture and food industries and can ensure the furnishing of evidence and ensure compliance as prescribed by the seal’s regulations may become licensees of the ‘Geprüfte Qualität – Bayern’ marking.

Licensees also coordinate the required monitoring measures with seal users and other programme participants. To do so, they appoint independent certification bodies to monitor companies’ compliance with programme requirements and to ensure they are using the seal properly.

Seal users

Theoretically all companies in member states of the European Union involved in the agriculture, food and food trading industries may use the quality and origin seal to mark their products, provided that:

• the seal usage regulations are complied with
• the company has signed a seal usage agreement with a licensee approved by the seal sponsor, and
• after an independent certification body has confirmed compliance with the respective regulations through on-premises company testing and issued the company a corresponding certificate

The company makes an application with the licensee to use the seal. The licensee assesses the company’s compliance with programme regulations. If the applicant meets the requirements, the company signs a seal usage agreement with the licensee.

Companies that would like to use the ‘Geprüfte Qualität – Bayern’ seal to mark their products in one or more categories must make a written application with a licensee authorised for those categories.

The following companies in the agriculture, food and food trading industries in the member states of the European Union are currently seal users in accordance with the programme regulations and are permitted to use the ‘Geprüfte Qualität – Bayern’ seal to mark their certified product areas:

>> list of all seal users and manufacturers of GQ-Bayern products