What are Certification Rules?
The Certification Rules provide us with a clear path of the process flow that must be carried out by any Certificate Holder (CH) that wants to become certified. These rules establish requirements for prospective and existing CHs to become or remain part of the Rainforest Alliance Certification Program.
Changes to the Certification and Auditing Rules: What has changed?
A few significant changes related to the certification rules have been made for supply chain:
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Entities performing solely retail activities will no longer be required to go through our certification process to purchase, sell and promote Rainforest Alliance certified products.
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The verification table for supply chain has been updated and now only includes 3 verification levels, this will simplify the process and allow for further transparency with stakeholders.
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Certification cycles are being removed for supply chain, this will allow for increased flexibility for CHs and CBs to perform the required audits also incentivising the combining of audits across certification schemes.
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More ways to close non-conformities: some non-conformities will be able to be closed with a plan or with a simple correction to simplify audit follow-up.
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Separation of farm and supply chain rules to make the planning process easier for certification bodies, allowing audits to focus on areas that are most relevant to supply chain actors
What has changed in License Renewal?
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The certification process in the new platform will be improved.
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Licenses have been removed instead, Certificates will be issued directly by the Certification Body, minimizing delays for the Certificate Holder.
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This change simplifies the process and reduces the administrative burden.
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It also resolves the mismatch between 3-year certificates and 1-year licenses.
Access to Certification Documents
All certification documents, including supporting materials and the Certification and Auditing Rules, will now be hosted on the Knowledge Hub, a centralized online platform that streamlines access to essential resources. This transition from the website to the Knowledge Hub ensures that all necessary information is available in one place for both Certificate Holders and Certification Bodies.