Offshore Greenhouse Certification Program Questions and Answers

OGCP is an APHIS PPQ certification program for offshore facilities that produce eligible generally admissible unrooted plant cuttings under a systems approach to reduce the risk of pests and diseases from entering the United States.  Facilities that participate in the program may benefit from a reduced inspection frequency at the U.S. plant inspection stations for consignment that meet the eligibility criteria. Participation in the OGCP is voluntary, and it is not a condition of entry for generally admissible plants.

Any offshore producer that meets the program’s requirements. 

• Produce eligible generally admissible unrooted plant cuttings 
• Meet all the permit and import requirements stated in 7 CFR 319.37 and the Plants for Planting Manual
• Production site is certified by APHIS 
• Use the APHIS Core message set (U.S. Customs and Border Protection) 

Eligible consignments may benefit from a reduced frequency of inspection at the U.S. port of entry.

• Interested offshore producers must send an official request to APHIS through the National Plant Protection Organization (NPPO) expressing their interest in participating in the OGCP.
• Establish a Cooperative Service Agreement between APHIS and the offshore facility.
• Establish a trust fund agreement to transfer funds to APHIS for the annual certification audits.

Please visit the OGCP website for the program’s framework and list of eligible plant taxa.

For additional questions or information, please send an email to ogcp@usda.gov.

Yes. The National Plant Protection Organization (NPPO) of the exporting country must include the below additional declaration in the phytosanitary certificate indicating that the consignment is eligible for the OGCP and include the approved facility number.

“All plant taxa in this consignment were produced and prepared for export from [approved facility number] in accordance with the Offshore Greenhouse Certification Program.”

Facility certification takes place during the peak plant production and harvesting period. 

The lead auditor will evaluate the facility against the OGCP framework and checklist. 

A certified APHIS auditor in collaboration with a NPPO representative and, if available, a local APHIS staff. In some circumstances, two or more certified auditors might be needed.

The cost of the certification audit includes the salary, benefits, overtime (if applicable), travel, accommodations and overhead for the auditor(s). If several facilities will be audited in one trip, the travel costs can be divided among all the facilities. 

There are no application fees to participate in the program.

Importers do not need to register. 

The certification is valid for one year. To maintain certification, a full system certification audit is required every year. 

If corrective action requests (CAR) are issued during the audit, the facility will be certified once all CARs are closed. 

It can take up to 6 months from the planning phase to certification.  APHIS will notify the facility and will send an official letter to the NPPO once the facility is approved and certified. 

No. To benefit from the program only OGCP-eligible plant taxa must be in the consignment. 

No. To benefit from the program the consignment must be comprised of plants from one certified facility. 

No, to benefit from the program the consignment must have only unrooted cuttings.

Every commercial consignment with commingled plant taxa, facilities, propagative materials etc., will be inspected at full rate at the port of entry.

The facility will not be eligible to participate in the program until it is in conformance with the OGCP framework.

1. Plant Inspection Station (PIS) will issue an Emergency Action Notification (EAN)
2. Shipment will be destroyed, re‐exported or treated
3. Facility will be automatically suspended from the program and the facility’s consignments will undergo 100% frequency of inspection for next 5 shipments.  
   1. If no other quarantine pests are found in those 5 shipments, the facility may be reinstated, and the suspension removed by APHIS. 
   2. If another quarantine pest is found in those 5 shipments, the facility will continue to be suspended until issue is resolved.  
4. Before reinstatement, APHIS will communicate with NPPO and offshore facility to discuss and agree on mitigation actions to reduce the risk of future pest interceptions. 

Offshore facility sends a list of the new plant taxa to the OGCP program manager atogcpP@usda.gov. The program manager will submit a request to PPQ’s risk managers for review. If approved, the new plant taxa will be added to the OGCP plant taxa list after notifying the offshore facility.

The NPPO must add language in the phytosanitary certificate (under additional declaration) acknowledging that the consignment is OGCP-eligible. This language must also include the certified facility number. Brokers can use this language to identify an OGCP consignment.

• Certified facility number
• List of OGCP-eligible plant taxa
• Producer Name
• Use the grower code “AG1” 

• Certified facility number
• Producer Name
• Use the grower code “DF1”

Please use the ARM System Propagative Name Validation List and the OGCP-eligible plant taxa list to verify plant taxonomic names. 

Please note that some plant taxa must be at the species level to be eligible for the program. See list of OGCP-eligible plant taxa list to confirm. 

ARM will recognize spp. or sp. Either option is correct. 

Use the grower code “AG1” when all the plant taxa in the consignment are eligible for the OGCP.

Use “DFI” as the grower code when a consignment is not eligible for the OGCP.

Please email questions about ACE to ace.itds@usda.gov.

1. ACE Appendix PGA- Code reference Table (U.S. Customs and Border Protection)
2. ACE PGA Message Set Implementation Guide(U.S. Customs and Border Protection)
3. Filing APHIS Core Message Set Data in ACE