Traceability Annex v1.4

What is this document about?

This annex includes additional binding content for  the  requirements included in the Traceability Chapter of the Rainforest Alliance standards and Rainforest Alliance Supply Chain Requirements.

This document includes:

• Additional details on which actors are responsible for traceability.

• Additional details on the definitions of the different traceability options.

When and how to use this document?

This document offers Certificate Holders and Certification Bodies additional information on the base requirements from Farm standards and Supply Chain requirements included and their implementation.  

Changes in update from v1.3 to v1.4

1. Introduction

This binding document provides Certificate Holders (CHs) with information on implementing the Traceability requirements of the Rainforest Alliance Supply Chain Requirements for volumes related to the Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Agriculture Standard and Regenerative Agriculture Standard.

More information on the implementation of rules and requirements can be found in the Rainforest Alliance Traceability Guidance.

Scope and applicability for traceability requirements

Traceability ensures the flow and integrity of products sold as Rainforest Alliance Certified, verifying the accuracy of certification claims. All farm and supply chain certificate holders must follow the mandatory requirements in the contextualized checklist after registering in the Rainforest Alliance Certification Platform (RACP).

Traceability types

The following traceability types are available in certified supply chains, listed from “highest” to “lowest”: Identity Preserved (IP), Segregation (SG), and Mass Balance (MB).

Identity Preserved (IP)

This is the strictest traceability type, where the certified product can be traced back to the farm Certificate Holder. There is no mixing of certified product with non-certified product, or with certified product from different sources.

If a certified product is from different certified sources/farms, but their identity is preserved, the subtype Mixed Identity Preserved (Mixed IP) can be applied.

Segregation (SG)

For this traceability type, certified products are kept separate from non-certified products, both physically and in documentation. Segregation occurs during all stages of the supply chain (receiving, processing, packaging, storage, and transportation). This means that the product is fully certified, even though the identity of its source(s) is not known.

Mass Balance (MB)

Mass Balance is an administrative traceability type where certified and non-certified products can be mixed. However, the volume sold as certified cannot exceed the volume initially purchased as certified. The supply chain Certificate Holder (CH) must document all certified and non-certified inputs and outputs and ensure that sales of certified volumes are accurately reflected in the traceability platform.

Upgrading one traceability type to another is not possible. For example, a product purchased as Segregation cannot be sold as Identity Preserved. However, downgrading from a higher traceability type to a lower one, such as from Segregation to Mass Balance, is allowed.

Scope of traceability types

Identity Preserved can be applied to any crop within the scope for Rainforest Alliance certification.

Segregation can also be applied to any crop within the scope, but not by farm Certificate Holders (CHs).

Mass Balance can be applied to the following crops by supply chain CHs: cocoa, processed fruits (including orange juice), hazelnut, cashews, almonds, coconut oil, flowers^[1], as well as key herbs and spices^[2]. Farm CHs can apply the mass balance traceability type for hazelnut, cashews, almonds, coconut oil, and flowers only.

2. Traceability

Requirement 2.1.1 Supply Chain, 2.1.3 Farm – Segregation

Rainforest Alliance has introduced different standards at Farm level. Farms and Supply Chain CHs that are certified to and handling volumes from different Rainforest Alliance Standards must maintain physical segregation of those volumes at all stages including harvesting, storage, transportation, processing and packaging.

Rainforest Alliance volumes must also be kept separate from volumes certified to another scheme or non-certified volumes.

Requirement 2.1.4 Supply Chain, 2.1.5 Farm – Documentation

Incoming and outgoing documentation must include references to Rainforest Alliance certified volumes as well as the Rainforest Alliance Standard that those volumes are linked to. For example, Sustainable Agriculture Standard or Regenerative Agriculture Standard.

Requirement 2.1.6 Supply Chain, 2.1.7 Farm – Double Selling

Double Selling refers to the practice of selling the same volume of a certified product twice. Once under a Rainforest Alliance Standard and again under another Rainforest Alliance Standard, another certification scheme, or as conventional. Double Selling is not permitted.

For example, 100 MT of coffee produced by a farm can be certified as both organic and Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Agriculture Standard and sold as:

• 100 MT Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Agriculture Standard Certified only, or

• 100 MT Organic only, or

• 100 MT Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Agriculture Standard and Organic (once in one batch) to one buyer.

However, that same volume of coffee cannot be sold as separately 100 MT of organic coffee, as well as 100 MT of Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Agriculture Standard or Regenerative Agriculture Certified coffee.

3. Traceability in the online platform

The Rainforest Alliance traceability platform reflects the movement of Rainforest Alliance Certified product throughout the supply chain and is implemented at the level of the Certificate Holder (CH). The volume in the traceability platform will identify Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Agriculture or Regenerative Agriculture volumes (or both). For multi-site CHs, the central management location is responsible for the traceability requirements.  Generally, traceability follows legal ownership. Traceability is not required for the movement of certified products among sites included on the same certificate.  

Reporting activities on the platform include sales, conversions, confirming, mixing, redeeming, removing, and downgrading of the certified product.

Requirement 2.1.2 Supply Chain, 2.1.9 Farm– converting certified product

For activities like processing that change the certified volume (e.g. from green to roasted coffee), the supply chain CH must perform the function ‘conversion’ in the traceability platform before selling onward. For activities like manufacturing that result in a different product (e.g. multi-ingredient product) but not a change in volume, the supply chain CH must perform the function  ‘report manufacturing’ in the traceability platform before selling onward.

For volumes not required to be sold onward in the traceability platform and need to be redeemed by the supply chain CH, these activities do not need to be performed before redeeming, (see conversion rates in section 5). For optional traceability at the end of the supply chain (i.e. traceability to retail), these activities also do not need to be performed before selling.

Requirement 2.1.4 Supply Chain, 2.1.5 Farm – managing incoming transactions of certified product

Transactions of certified products sold by suppliers must be reviewed and confirmed^[3] by the CH purchasing the certified product.

Requirement 2.2.1 Supply Chain and Farm– managing outgoing transactions of certified product

All transactions of certified products must be reported on the Rainforest Alliance traceability platform, from the farm CH to the final manufacturer of finished consumer products (or importer for fresh fruits and vegetables). Volumes sold as finished consumer products must then be redeemed⁴ from the traceability platform.

Removing Certified Volumes

Certified volumes not sold as certified (either as conventional, as certified by another certification scheme or which have been damaged or lost) must be removed from the traceability platform. Mass Balance volumes are not required to be removed from the traceability platform, and a sales transaction needs to be issued to the buyer (if applicable) once the corresponding certified volume equivalent has been sold.

When to Report

All activities must be reported in the traceability platform within 2 weeks from the end of the calendar quarter (January – March, April – June, July – September, October – December) in which they took place.

• Example 1: A physical sale is made in May - the CH must report the sale transaction latest by July 14^th.

• Example 2: A certified volume is sold as conventional in December must be removed from the traceability platform by January 14^th of the following year.

If a supply chain CH cannot declare the sale of certified product to their buyer within the required timeframe because the CH’s supplier has not yet declared the sale to them, the CH needs to demonstrate due diligence in reaching out to their supplier.

Requirement 2.2.2 Supply Chain, 2.2.4 Farm– Royalty

As per our Rainforest Alliance License Agreement General Terms and Conditions, CHs must make royalty payments according to the Royalty Schedule for each applicable crop and standard.  

4. Mass balance

Requirement 2.3.1 Supply Chain and Farm – volume conversion

According to our mass balance rules, converting certified volumes to conventional volumes is only allowed for the same products or in the direction of physical processing, for example:

• Certified cocoa butter to conventional cocoa butter

• Certified cocoa beans to conventional cocoa butter

• Certified in-shell hazelnuts to conventional roasted hazelnut kernel

• Certified crude coconut oil to conventional refined coconut oil

Backward conversion is not allowed, for example:

• Certified cocoa liquor to conventional cocoa nibs

• Certified chocolate to conventional cocoa butter

• Certified cocoa butter to conventional cocoa powder

• Processed hazelnut kernel to in-shell hazelnuts

Requirements 2.3.4 and 2.3.5 Supply Chain and Farm– origin matching

For the cocoa sector, the following origin matching requirements and definitions apply:

Definitions

Scope

Origin matching is required for all transactions completed in the traceability platform with contracts signed from April 1^st, 2021, for phase 1 requirements, and October 1^st, 2023 for phase 2 requirements.

This includes all mass balance certified cocoa products with an origin footprint displayed in the traceability platform.

Phase 1 requirements

Cocoa beans and nibs

Origin matching is required for 100% of each purchase and sales transaction of certified cocoa beans and nibs between supply chain CHs. Purchase and sales documentation for beans and nibs sold as certified must include origin information to country level for both certified and conventional beans and nibs.

Cocoa liquor

Origin matching is required for the first sale of certified cocoa liquor in the supply chain on an aggregate level for each 12-month period. Companies must calculate their annual volume for origin matching of certified Mass Balance liquor and include proof of calculation. Documentation at the supply chain Certificate Holder level must include origin information to country level for certified and non-certified cocoa inputs.

The origins for aggregate certified liquor sales and the annual volume are compared, with origin matching required for at least 80% by volume.

If origin matching is less than 80% for the 12-month period, the volume gap must be compensated for within the next 3 months.

Phase 2 requirements

Exports from Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Ecuador

In addition to all phase 1 requirements, origin matching is required for 100% of each export sale of certified cocoa liquor, butter, or powder out of the country of origin (for Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Ecuador). Origin matching for any supply chain CH beyond the level of the importer is not required.

Origin regional approach

Origin matching may be done on a regional level for all products except cocoa beans and nibs combining specific smaller countries of origin, as identified in the table below:

5. Conversion Rates for Mass Balance products

The table below indicates the conversion rates for Mass Balance in sectors where it is allowed. The permitted conversion rates for Segregation and Identity Preserved are pre-set in the traceability platform.

Other information

Date of first publication of this document (v 1.0): July 1^st, 2022.  

The Rainforest Alliance retains the rights to review, approve, deny, or revoke these allowances for specific Certificate Holders and on a case-by-case basis. 

Documents indicated as “binding” must be complied with for certification. Documents indicated as “non-binding” provide non-mandatory information to help readers understand and implement requirements and other binding content.

Translation Disclaimer

For any question related to the precise meaning of the information in a translation, consult the official English version for clarification. Any errors or differences in meaning due to translation are not binding and have no effect for auditing or certification purposes.

Reproduction, modification, distribution, or republication of this content is strictly forbidden without prior written consent from Rainforest Alliance.

More information?

For help in obtaining a Rainforest Alliance certificate reach out to our Customer Success team at customersuccess@ra.org.

For more information about Rainforest Alliance, visit http://www.rainforest-alliance.org contact info@ra.org or the Rainforest Alliance Amsterdam Office, De Ruijterkade 6, 1013AA Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Footnotes

1. For flowers, the mass balance traceability is done on the number of certified input (stems) the CH receives within a given period (day/week/year) and allows the CH to claim the percentage of certified input in its final product.   ↑

2. Key herbs & spices are rooibos, vanilla, saffron, pepper, cinnamon, chili pepper, oregano, coriander, paprika, cardamom, dill, clove, parsley, nutmeg, thyme, bay leaf, rosemary and tarragon. ↑

3. Confirm = CH reviews and approves details (volume, traceability level, and any other references provided) of incoming transactions from certified suppliers, if those correspond to details on the invoice and contracts with their suppliers

4. Redeem = The certificate holder owning the brand traces volumes out of the traceability platform that are being sold as final consumer-facing products. The activity 'redeem' marks the end of online traceability for Rainforest Alliance Certified products. ↑