Introduction and Overview › Glossary for Networking Language · 3 min read
A Participatory Guarantee System, or PGS, is a community-driven process for quality assurance. Producers, processing businesses, members, and other stakeholders collectively verify whether agreed-upon ecological, social, and economic principles are being upheld.
Unlike exclusively external certification, quality assurance in a PGS emerges through direct participation, mutual visits, transparent documentation, and shared responsibility.
A PGS can include, among others, the following elements:
The focus is not solely on control. A PGS creates a shared learning process in which knowledge is exchanged, challenges are made visible, and businesses are supported in their development.
A PGS not only ensures transparency about quality but also strengthens relationships and shared learning within a network.
Key advantages include:
A PGS does not fundamentally replace legal or market-relevant certifications such as the EU Organic Regulation or Demeter. Instead, it complements these with a decentralized, community-driven form of quality assurance that prioritizes learning, exchange, and shared responsibility. This creates a dynamic network in which businesses can continuously develop and learn from one another.
Depending on the design, a PGS may involve:
Responsibility for quality is thus not borne by a single inspection body but is shared within the network.
Within the TEIKEI Network, a PGS can strengthen trust and traceability along the entire supply chain. It makes it transparent where products originate, how they are processed, and what agreements exist between the participating businesses and communities.
A PGS can encompass not only individual farms but also processing, storage, packaging, and other steps in the value chain.
The Agora Marketplace can digitally support the organizational processes of a PGS. This includes, for example:
The digital platform does not replace personal relationships and shared visits. Instead, it supports their organization, traceability, and long-term documentation.
A PGS is not merely a simplified certification label. It is an independent approach based on participation, trust, transparency, and mutual responsibility.
Whether a PGS can replace legally required external certification depends on the country, product, market, and intended use. Regardless, it can serve as a complementary quality assurance and development tool.
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By the TEIKEI editorial team, with support from AI (ChatGPT)
Created on July 17, 2026 · Last updated on October 10, 2026
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