GACP

Good Agricultural and Collection Practice standards for cannabis cultivation.

GACP (Good Agricultural and Collection Practice) is the cultivation-side quality standard — and a hard prerequisite in medical supply chains. Import authorities like BfArM require a valid GACP certificate naming the specific cultivation site before issuing any import authorization. Both the EU GACP Guideline and WHO GACP are widely accepted; self-certification is not.

Certificates are issued by ISO 17065-accredited third-party bodies (such as Bureau Veritas, SGS, or Kiwa) for terms of one to three years, and must be current at the time of each application. The GACP certificate anchors the chain of custody: the GMP certificate must reference the GACP-certified source, and any change of cultivation site triggers re-certification and regulator notification.

Key considerations

• Certificates name the specific cultivation site — they do not transfer between sites
• EU GACP Guideline and WHO GACP are the accepted standards
• Issued only by ISO 17065-accredited third-party bodies; self-certification fails
• Validity is typically 1–3 years, with no grace periods at application time
• Anchors the GACP → GMP chain of custody that import authorities audit