The Code of Good Veterinary Practices has been prepared under the direction of GVPvzw.

GVPvzw is an organisation set up by the two Belgian veterinary syndicates (VDV -Vlaamse Dierenartsenvereniging- and UPV -Union Professionnelle Vétérinaire). The initiative is supported by both Regional Boards of the College of Veterinary Surgeons and both faculties of veterinary medecine.

The Ministries of Agriculture and Public Health, the FAVV (Federaal Agentschap voor de Voedselveiligheid (Federal Agency for Food Safety)), the Pharmaceutical Inspectorate, the College of Veterinary Surgeons, representatives of the veterinary profession, the Pharmaceutical Industry, the food industries, the distribution sector and the consumer organisations all had input in this Code or were consulted on it.

This Code was created as a response of the Belgian Veterinary Profession to the stable-to-table programmes in the whole food production chain.

Since veterinarians have an important role to play in animal health, animal welfare, public health and the prudent use of medicines, it was felt that the profession needs a system of external quality assurance.

The purpose of this Code is to enable the profession to show the general public that it is working against a set of standards to guarantee at all times that a quality veterinary service is being delivered, that it is a trustworthy partner in the food industries and that it uses medicines in a safe and professional manner.

The system is voluntary and practices, veterinarians and veterinary companies that want to join, will be able to demonstrate to their clients and the general public that their veterinary quality system has been certified against this Code.

This code sets the requirements for quality control programmes in the veterinary profession. The implementation of this code will assist the veterinarian in guaranteeing that all requirements put upon him have been met.

A veterinarian, wanting to be GVP-certified, will have to implement all relevant clauses of the code and all requirements of the schedules applicable to his situation.

Implementing the Code will involve some paperwork at the start, but nothing in the Code is over-demanding. You will feel most as stating the obvious. With some common sense and a bit of an effort at the start, anybody wanting to implement the scheme should achieve this goal with no major difficulty. Once the system is implemented and people are used to working with it, it will become routine to follow the systems and requirements and to complete and file the relevant forms.

To help with the implementation of the scheme in practice, Guidelines to the Code and a sample manual have been created. All 3 documents (Code, Guidelines and Manual) are available online on this site. Just click on the relevant links below or on top to go to the relevant documents. A tool to personalise this sample manual to your own situation is also present.

You can use the section Test Yourself to keep track of your progress. Tick the boxes of the relevant sections once the stage is completed and then click Save Data. 

A full range of consultancy services are offered covering the complete proces upto the implementation of GVP in your practice. These services are not necessary, but you might use them to speed up your implementation process.  

Certification will be carried out by an independent certification body, appointed by GVP vzw - E&J Belgium. E&J Belgium has significant expertise in the veterinary field. All auditors involved will be veterinary surgeons.

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