August 13, 2024

Key updates

Publication of the Auditing Rules

As of Friday August 9th, the new version of the Auditing Rules is published! The old version (1.3) of the Certification and Auditing Rules has now been fully split into two separate documents: Certification Rules and Auditing Rules. These new Auditing Rules (v1.0) replace Chapter 2 of v1.3 of the Certification and Auditing Rules and are applicable from September 1st, 2024. By splitting the Certification and Auditing Rules into two documents, we were able to tailor the Certification Rules more to Certificate Holders and leave the more technical pieces for CBs in the Auditing Rules.

The main changes to the Auditing Rules are in the format of the document. The rules now flow chronologically in the order of the audit, and the annexes have been incorporated into the body of the text. We also added measures that will strengthen assurance as well as reduce audit costs. You can find an overview of key content changes in the beginning of the document

If you have any questions about the new AuditingRules, please reach out to cbmanagement@ra.org.

Certification deck

Our Certification Deck will support you in talking to internal and external stakeholders about our certification program. It includes slides that discuss what certification is, how it works, what sets our program apart from others, and how our certification program has impacted farmers. Its purpose is to help you build your own presentation by allowing you to keep the slides you want, add the slides you need, and delete the rest.

You can find the deck here on the Knowledge Hub: https://knowledge.rainforest-alliance.org/docs/rainforest-alliance-certification-deck

For more information, please contact Tina Lippstreu.

Last step in EUDR product development in sight!

The conclusion of the development of our EUDR offering is in sight. Beginning of September, the fabulous Data team will launch the EUDR Due Diligence Report. With this report Coffee & Cocoa Supply Chain Actors who have opted-in to EUDR will be able to see information from EUDR aligned farmers in their supply chain. Companies can use this report to support their EUDR compliance in the EU. Data that will be shown includes compliance data against relevant requirements, deforestation risk assessment and geo data. The report will show data from farms in the SCA’s supply chain that are EUDR aligned (opted in & audited) and have (mixed) IP transactions since the EUDR audit date.

You can expect more information about the report and how it can benefit your stakeholders next week!

Other relevant external EUDR reports:

• Farm CH opt-in report: showing which farms in a SCA supply chain have already opted-in to

• EUDR Public list of EUDR aligned CH’s: List of Farm CHs that are EUDR aligned (have been audited against our standard + additional EUDR requirements)

If you have any questions, please list them here on our Q&A page.