What are Certification Rules?
The Certification Rules provide a clear overview of the processes that must be carried out to become certified. Each Certificate Holder must complete the certification process in order to sell products as Rainforest Alliance certified.
Certification Rules are there to outline:
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The process for prospective and current Certificate Holders to become or remain part of the Rainforest Alliance Certification Program
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Requirements that Certificate Holders need to follow to receive an external audit
Changes to the Certification Rules
With Standard v1.4, we are also introducing changes to the Certification Rules.
What is new:
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Separation of the Certification and Auditing rules for farms and for supply chain
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Improved verification of geodata and deforestation risk for farms
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Closing of certain non-conformities with a corrective action plan or a correction
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Performance-based incentives
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Simplification in the issuing of certificates
New document structure
We previously issued the Certification and Auditing rules for both farms and supply chain actors in a shared document, but now, for ease of use, we are publishing the following documents separately:
1. Certification Rules - Farm
2. Auditing Rules - Farm
3. Certification and Auditing Rules - Supply Chain
Farm Certificate Holders will find all information that is relevant for them in the Certification Rules for Farm.
Additional information, i.e., about internal inspections and verification of deforestation and encroachment risk, can be found in the Management and Environment annexes.
Verification of geodata and deforestation risk
We are strengthening our Certification and Auditing Rules to improve the verification of geodata and deforestation risk.
Increased verification levels for deforestation will be introduced to assess this risk more effectively. The Environment annex will guide Farm Certificate Holders on what needs to be done on their side for the internal verification of geodata, and the new rules will guide Certification Bodies on the assessment of these requirements.
Closing of non-conformities
Depending on the severity, some non-conformities may not require full root-cause analysis and will now be possible to close via
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A corrective action plan or
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A correction
Guidance on applicable cases will be shared.
Performance-based incentives
With Standard v1.4, we offer performance-based incentives.
In practice, this means:
"Good" performance: Certificate Holders may be allowed to reduce the sample size of their following audit.
= No history of non-certification or cancelation in the last 3 years
"Great" performance: Certificate Holders who meet additional requirements may further reduce their audit sample size and scope of their audit.
= No history of non-certification or cancelation in the last 3 years
= No loss of physical traceability
= No deforestation or encroachment on protected areas
= No application of prohibited pesticides
"Outstanding" performance: Certificate Holders who meet more stringent requirements (e.g., no non-conformities on deforestation) may, on some occasions, where regional policies allow, skip their second surveillance audit entirely.
= All above requirements plus no non-conformities on social topics
= Not opted in for EUDR*
= Certificate Holders will still need to comply with all Standard requirements, including internal inspections; some information and indicators will still need to be provided on an annual basis
* Rainforest Alliance's EUDR solution requires annual verification that cannot be covered when skipping an audit.
You will find the specific performance criteria in the Certification Rules document. It is the responsibility of Certification Bodies to identify which Certificate Holders qualify for the incentives.
These changes will not only save Certificate Holders valuable time and resources but also support audits to become more focused and impactful as auditors will be able to focus on areas of key risks.
Disclaimers
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At the launch of Standard v1.4, performance-based incentives will be applicable immediately based on past audit performance.
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Rainforest Alliance keeps the right to reverse or cancel any incentives, especially in high-risk topics (such as deforestation and social topics), and Certification Bodies can request exceptions.
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Local policies may override these incentives (e.g., in West Africa, audits cannot be skipped).
Audit Reporting Timelines
There are new timelines for audit reporting. Now, the lead auditor will provide the Certificate Holder with a list of the non-conformities during the closing meeting for better clarity, and the final audit report will be shared with the Certificate Holder no later than 4 weeks after the last day of the audit.
After the final audit report has been shared with the Certificate Holder, the Certification Body shall not raise any other non-conformities.
Removal of Licenses
Licenses have been removed, which means the certificate will be directly issued by the Certification Body upon a positive certification decision in the Rainforest Alliance Certification Platform (RACP). Volumes will now be directly linked to the certificate and become applicable the moment the Certification Body shares the certificate with the Certificate Holder. The Certification Body is responsible for updating the certificate annex with volumes annually.