In 2003, the IFOAM World Board decided to undertake a Review of the Organic Guarantee System. The purpose of the review was to identify an Organic Guarantee System that will best implement IFOAM's mission in the changed global environment, which includes the proliferation of government regulations, labeling initiatives (including those within powerful private supply chains), and the rapid growth of all organic sectors including the number of certifiers.

Many years, two IFOAM General Assemblies and several rounds of proposals and consultation later, a new OGS scenario has emerged, which contains five services through which IFOAM would unite, lead and assist organic standard setting and verification processes. A stakeholder consultation was organized in early 2010 to collect comments on this new OGS scenario.

The IFOAM World Board reviewed the results of the consultation in April 2010 and a final proposal was put to IFOAM membership vote.

The electronic membership vote on the revised OGS ended on the 18th of July with a majority of 93% of positive responses.

The version of the OGS, approved by the IFOAM World Board  and accepted by IFOAM membership, can be accessed here.

The history and archive documents of the OGS revision process are available here.