FAQ - Audit programme

My Audits is the tool used to carry out the GS1 Belgilux audit programme, which involves random audits of the product information in My Product Manager. During the audits, the label information of the product is compared with the data in My Product Manager. 

The audit programme is mandatory for suppliers of pre-packaged foodstuffs that do not meet the exemption criteria.

In case a supplier refuses to take part in the audit programme: 

• the supplier receives the "does not participate" flag in our systems
   
• their non-participation is reported to the retailers. 

Non-participation is understood to mean:     

• a supplier indicates not to participate in the audit programme (EITHER by self-reporting, OR by failing to respond to audit calls and reminders) 
   
• a supplier does not correct the errors found after the audit in My Product Manager

Specifically, the suppliers with prepacked food products in My Product Manager will be approached according to the following approach: 

• Suppliers of up to 40 products are contacted every other iteration (4 times in total) with an audit sample set. 
• Suppliers with 41 or more products are contacted every iteration (8 times in total) with an audit sample set.
• The group of vendors contacted every other iteration will be spread across the even and odd iterations. 

If your products need to be audited, you will receive an email from us and the selected products will be visible in the My Audits application. You are not a My Product Manager editor? Please contact the sector help desk to identify yourself as a party involved in the auditing programme. Only My Product Manager editors have access to the My Audits application. 

If you have outsourced your capture to a certified DMS, then these products do not need to be audited and you can request an exemption for all products concerned through the help desk. In this case, please provide us with a complete list of the products involved, with proof.

Please follow this flow to request exemptions due to capture of product information by one of the certified DMS parties: 

1. Supplier asks the DMS to send a list of the relevant GTIN/GLN combinations with a confirmation to the sector helpdesk, with the supplier contact person in CC.  
    
2. The DMS  party composes the list and sends the e-mail with the Excel annex (with GTIN/GLN combo’s). Please mention in the e-mail title ‘List exemptions for supplier X (GLN X) due to capture by DMS party (name)’ 
    
3. GS1 Belgilux processes this list and confirms both parties (DMS & supplier in CC) via e-mail. 
    
4. The exempted GTINs will not be taken into account with the audit sampling. 

The permitted formats for uploaded images are JPEG, PNG, TIFF and PDF. A maximum of 120 MB per image/artwork is permitted.

My Audits focuses on auditing the information that is of the highest importance to consumers, namely the label information on pre-packaged food products. This includes things like ingredients, nutrients, allergens, but also net content, drained weight, as well as labelling such as 'gluten free', 'vegan', or the European organic label. Click here for an overview of the fields and the assessment criteria.

The audit focuses on pre-packaged foods that are a consumer unit (and multi-packs). 

You can find the list of exemption criteria on our website.

Sector agreements and instructions on how to enter data correctly in My Product Manager are available on our website.

GS1 Belgium & Luxembourg's audit programme is primarily designed to ensure that the product information shared digitally is identical to the data on the label in the shop. Here, the label information is used as a reference. For bulk products or products that are still being processed for sale, this reference label is often missing. However, data recipients do use the product data on their digital channels and in communications to consumers. Therefore, GS1 considers it  is important to also check the digital data of these products. In addition to a picture of the packaging, the producer can also provide other documentation to support the data in the digital product data sheet (e.g. a PDF of the page from the technical data sheet containing the ingredients).

Several attributes can be filled in in several languages. In the Belgilux audit programme, we only look at fields filled in with the language codes Dutch (nl), French (fr) and German (de). Other languages, such as English (en), are not checked for content, not even for fields where they are mandatory.

Please note that GS1 never determines which languages are mandatory on a product's label. In the audit programme, we only compare the languages on the label with the languages in the dataset.

When is a language checked? 

Regardless of what is on the packaging, we always check whether the chosen language code matches the language used. If an attribute appears in a language on the packaging of a product, we check whether the same information can be found in the dataset in the same language. Conversely, an additional language may be present in the dataset, which is not on the packaging itself. In that case, we only check whether the language matches the chosen language code and whether the information can possibly match, but we cannot make a one-to-one comparison.

Example: when is a language approved or rejected?

Here are some examples based on the common storage instruction ‘Keep cool and dry’.

After the audit of a product has completed, you will find the results in your My Audits environment, under 'report'. 

An article is approved based on assessment criteria that determine whether an attribute is correct or incorrect. 

During the audit process, each checkpoint for each product sheet is recorded as to whether the information in My Product Manager is correct (score 1) or incorrect (score 0). The score of each checkpoint is then multiplied by a weight that determines the importance of the checkpoint (1= low, 5 = medium, high = 10).  The result of this multiplication per checkpoint is then added together and converted to a score out of 100 for that product sheet. If average score is at least 96%, then the item is rated as 'sufficient'. If the score is lower than 96%, the verdict is 'insufficient'. 

The report in My Product Manager provides information about the logical validation rules and for which products, according to these validation rules, there are still open errors or warnings. This concerns the entire product range in My Product Manager. 

The report in the My Audits application only concerns the audited products. In this report you will find detailed information about the errors that were made on products that received the 'insufficient' verdict in the audit programme on the basis of the audited attributes and according to the assessment criteria. Products that are part of the audit programme but which received the verdict 'sufficient' are not available in the report.

In that case, please contact the sector help desk via email or telephone: fmcg-foodservice@gs1belu.org - +32 2 229 18 88

Clearly state what it is about (My Audits and the issue) in the email subject line as well as the product (GTIN) to which your objection pertains and the reason. 

GS1 Belgilux informs retailers by email as soon as the products in the sample for an iteration have been audited. You can also see the assessment outcome per product (sufficient or insufficient) in the My Audits application.  

Retailers will also be informed of any refusal of suppliers to participate. 

If you do not find the answer to your question in the frequently asked questions, you can contact the sector help desk via email or telephone: fmcg-foodservice@gs1belu.org - +32 2 229 18 88

Please mention in the subject line of the email that it is a question regarding My Audits as well as any additional details.