Announcement on Resolution GA15-6F:

Resolution GA15-6F referring to the proposal to exempt smallholders from “immediate suspension” as stated under subsection 4.9.4 of the RSPO Certification system for Principles & Criteria 2017. The subsection 4.9.4 of the RSPO Certification System document (available at https://rspo.org/key-documents/certification/rspo-certification-systems) stated that “If there are five or more major non-compliances within one Principle being observed in an Annual Surveillance Audit or in a re-certification audit, this will lead to immediate suspension from the RSPO certification.”

With the adoption of this resolution, the RSPO Secretariat therefore wish to announce, with immediate effect, subsection 4.9.4 of the RSPO Certification System document shall not be applicable for the audit of independent smallholders until the new smallholder standard is endorsed and implemented.

For existing independent smallholder groups which have been suspended due to this requirement, the Certification Body shall lift the suspension immediately.

For further enquiries, please contact certification@rspo.org