The Global Ozone Monitoring Instrument (GOME-2) was launched on EUMESAT's MetOp-A satellite in October 2006. This paper is concerned with the retrieval algorithm GOME Data Processor (GDP) version 4.4 used by the EUMETSAT Satellite Application Facility on Ozone and Atmospheric Chemistry Monitoring (O3M-SAF) for the operational generation of GOME-2 total ozone products. GDP 4.4 is the latest version of the GDP 4.0 algorithm, which is employed for the generation of official Level 2 total ozone and other trace gas products from GOME and SCIAMACHY. Here we focus on enhancements introduced in GDP 4.4: improved cloud retrieval algorithms including detection of Sun glint effects, a correction for intracloud ozone, better treatment of snow and ice conditions, accurate radiative transfer modeling for large viewing angles, and elimination of scan angle dependencies inherited from Level 1 radiances. Furthermore, the first global validation results for 3 years (2007–2009) of GOME-2/MetOp-A total ozone measurements using Brewer and Dobson measurements as references are presented. The GOME-2/MetOp-A total ozone data obtained with GDP 4.4 slightly underestimates ground-based ozone by about 0.5% to 1% over the middle latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere and slightly overestimates by around 0.5% over the middle latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere. Over high latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere, GOME-2 total ozone has almost no offset relative to Dobson readings, while over high latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere GOME-2 exhibits a small negative bias below 1%. For tropical latitudes, GOME-2 measures on average lower ozone by 0% to 2% compared to Dobson measurements.