Evaluating the cost of compliance to mandatory and voluntary standards in the South African citrus industry
type: CreativeWork
description: As the world’s second largest citrus exporter, South Africa faced mounting compliance costs in terms of mandatory and voluntary standards. South Africa exported to more than 100 countries, and each country had its own set of standards South Africa must comply with for these citrus exports. Despite being the most stringent when implementing these standards, the EU remained the main export market for South African citrus. Based on this, this research had the following research objectives: One, identify the mandatory and voluntary standards implemented by different regulatory schemes. Two, examine how changes in the EU regulations affected South African citrus exports. Three, determine the costs of the mandatory and voluntary standards. Four, determine the benefits of complying with the mandatory and voluntary standards. Five, determine if there was an overlap between mandatory and voluntary standards. Six, evaluate alternative export markets to which South Africa could export their citrus. The main export markets for South Africa were mainly located in the Northern Hemisphere and ranged from the USA to Russia, with all main markets regulating the following mandatory standards: CBS, FCM, Fruit Flies and cold storage regulations with different implementation stringencies. The EU had the most stringent regulations, with the cold storage regulations being the most stringent. When comparing other export markets' standards to the EU standards, the Eastern regions, such as the Middle East, Asia and Russia, CBS was the standard that the participants found the least difficult to comply with. Global GAP and SIZA, both social and environmental, were the most implemented voluntary standards in the citrus industry. Global GAP became mandatory for exports, where even exporters needed a Global GAP CoC certificate to export. Furthermore, PPECB requires that producers have a valid Global GAP certificate before clearing fruit for exports. Greenhouse Gas Reduction control chapters were …
abstract: As the world’s second largest citrus exporter, South Africa faced mounting compliance costs in terms of mandatory and voluntary standards. South Africa exported to more than 100 countries, and each country had its own set of standards South Africa must comply with for these citrus exports. Despite being the most stringent when implementing these standards, the EU remained the main export market for South African citrus. Based on this, this research had the following research objectives: One, identify the mandatory and voluntary standards implemented by different regulatory schemes. Two, examine how changes in the EU regulations affected South African citrus exports. Three, determine the costs of the mandatory and voluntary standards. Four, determine the benefits of complying with the mandatory and voluntary standards. Five, determine if there was an overlap between mandatory and voluntary standards. Six, evaluate alternative export markets to which South Africa could export their citrus. The main export markets for South Africa were mainly located in the Northern Hemisphere and ranged from the USA to Russia, with all main markets regulating the following mandatory standards: CBS, FCM, Fruit Flies and cold storage regulations with different implementation stringencies. The EU had the most stringent regulations, with the cold storage regulations being the most stringent. When comparing other export markets' standards to the EU standards, the Eastern regions, such as the Middle East, Asia and Russia, CBS was the standard that the participants found the least difficult to comply with. Global GAP and SIZA, both social and environmental, were the most implemented voluntary standards in the citrus industry. Global GAP became mandatory for exports, where even exporters needed a Global GAP CoC certificate to export. Furthermore, PPECB requires that producers have a valid Global GAP certificate before clearing fruit for exports. Greenhouse Gas Reduction control chapters were …
author: Visser, Kara
language: en
date published: 2026-03
date modified: 2026-07-24T04:40:12Z
provider: Stellenbosch University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University