RSPO Secretariat has issued a statement on 15 November 2016 announcing the ratification of Resolution 6f at the recent GA in Bangkok. The Resolution demanded a reprieve from the New Planting Procedures (NPP) for all smallholders – independent, scheme or associated – until a review of the updated NPP guidance document is completed within 6 months of the announcement.
Since then, the RSPO Secretariat has been requested to develop an interim guidance on implementation methodology of the Resolution under specific situations.
Under the normal circumstances, the certification process for a smallholder has to comply with the Group Certification Standard and/or all the requirements of P&C 2013, whereby new plantings carried out after 1 January 2010 has to comply with the NPP requirement.
With the ratification of the Resolution 6f/2016, any new plantings conducted by smallholders since 10 November 2016 are exempted from the submission of NPP documents until further announcement is to be made.
Notwithstanding that smallholders are exempted from NPP submission, any smallholder group who are intending to undergo certification, would still be subjected to comply with the Principle 7 of the RSPO P&C 2013, which means that HCV assessment, SEIA, GHG assessment, LUCA, soil and topography survey and FPIC are still required.
The application of the Resolution is not retrospective, meaning that all development prior to 10 November 2016, are required to comply with the NPP. Failure to comply with the NPP requirement will trigger sanctions as announced on 21 December 2015. Please download the below document for scenarios where the exemption is considered applicable.
For further information, please contact RSPO Secretariat through email to [email protected] or [email protected]
