The GOTS organisation developed guidelines for GOTS Approved Certification Bodies who require to replace on-site audits by Virtual Audits (VAs) due to travel and meeting restrictions imposed by health authorities because the threat of infection and spread of COVID-19.
The latest version of the Guidelines Document that was developed after inputs from Approved Certifiers is available here. These guidelines will continue to be developed with new inputs from Certifiers so the latest version should be referred to in all cases.
The decision to conduct a Virtual Audit (VA) or not will remain with the Certifiers.
For more information contact .
Explanatory Note:
GOTS also prescribes Remote Audits under certain circumstances. These are desktop audits based on review documentation and do not require a meeting of the auditor and auditee, in person or virtually. VAs however will require live interaction between the two parties, in addition to documentation review.
