Throughout the validity period of the certificate, you as a Certification Body may decide to suspend a member’s certificate for a period of up to 3 months, in case of minor deviations from the UTZ standards found outside of the (re)certification process. These deviations should not have an impact on the credibility of UTZ and/or the CB. Examples include minor non-conformities found during a surprise audit, failure to meet financial obligations to the CB or UTZ, or other administrative issues. The CB immediately informs the Rainforest Alliance (UTZ) and the member about the suspension, and suspends the member’s license in MultiTrace.

Please note that if following a (re)certification audit, the member fails to resolve the NCs within the stipulated time period, you as a CB shall take a non-certification decision, rather than issuing a suspension.

Suspend a license

Go to the Audits & Licenses tab, scroll down to the Licenses section and search for the Member you want to suspend. Use the tick boxes to narrow down your search.

Click Suspend/Cancel License on the right and fill in the required fields and Submit.

While the member’s license is suspended, the member may not sell its product as certified. Once you have verified that the underlying reasons for the suspension have been satisfactorily addressed, you can lift the suspension of the certificate, inform Rainforest Alliance (UTZ) and the member by email, and lift the suspension in MultiTrace.

Lift a suspension

Go to the Audits & Licenses tab, scroll down to the Licenses section and search for the Member you want to lift the suspension for. Use the tick boxes to narrow down your search.