4 Dec 2013
RSPO appointed Accreditation Services International (ASI) to manage and implement the accreditation programme of its Certification Scheme. The appointment of ASI further advanced the integrity of its certification process. All RSPO approved Certification Bodies (CB) that operate under the RSPO certification scheme for both P&C and supply chain certification must follow procedures and timeline for getting full accreditation.
Since the start of the accreditation process, ASI has conducted various stage of evaluation on all of the RSPO approved CBs with various results. In view of slow progress achieved by some CBs under phase 3, the RSPO Board of Governors, at its meeting on 15 November 2013, has agreed to give a six month extension to the accreditation programme. This means that all CBs are now given a new timeline, 30 June 2014, to achieve full accreditation by ASI.
The BoG also requested that the accreditation status of each CB be made publicly available and communicated to the stakeholders. This is not only for transparency, but also to allow the stakeholders, particularly the grower and supply chain operators to make a clear choice in progressing with their certification under RSPO scheme.
The RSPO would like to remind members and the CBs themselves that CBs who are yet to achieve full accreditation by ASI need to observe the following conditions:
- They are not permitted to conduct new certification/recertification assessments for RSPO P&C or Supply Chain, unless it is to facilitate a Witness Audit by ASI
- They are not permitted to issue new certification for the RSPO P&C or Supply Chain
- They are allowed to continue with annual surveillance audits of existing certified management units
The conditions are also applicable to the CBs that are under suspension. Statement by the RSPO on suspension of CBs can be found at:
For those certification assessments that have been conducted but certification decision is yet to be finalised, the CBs area required to submit a list to RSPO with the names of client, details of the certification unit and date of the assessment.
The CBs are allowed to continue to produce certification report on those units that are already assessed and put it through the RSPO peer review processes and eventually to issue certificate, but no new certification/recertification audit is permitted.
The CBs are urged to focus their resources to successfully complete the accreditation process before 30 June 2014. Failing to do so, the CBs will no longer be allowed to operate under the RSPO scheme and their certificate holders will be advised to transfer the certificate to those CBs that have been successfully accredited.
For further clarification on this matter, please contact RSPO Secretariat at [email protected].
