Endorsed RSPO New Planting Procedure (NPP), 2021

On 10 June 2021, the revised RSPO New Planting Procedure (NPP) was endorsed by the RSPO Board of Governors. The RSPO NPP 2021 is effective immediately with a six (6) month grace period. All NPP submissions by 15 January 2022 onwards shall be completed in compliance with NPP 2021.

RSPO is requesting members who have initiated the assessment processes based on NPP 2015 during the grace period to please register your case with the RSPO Secretariat at [email protected]. All case registrations must reach the RSPO Secretariat before COB 14 January 2022 with supporting documents and stated clearly in the email subject: NPP 2015 Case Registry.

The RSPO New Planting Procedure (NPP) 2021

The revised NPP is the result of an extensive discussion and review, as well as two (2) rounds of public consultation processes were conducted in December 2020 and April 2021, with support from the NPP Revision Subgroup (NPPRS) consisting of RSPO members. A total of six hundred and thirty (630) comments were received from both public consultations.

The revised NPP (2021) provides better clarity and guidance on development scenarios where NPP applies; how the NPP is to be applied by smallholders; the assessment and process requirements; and guidance on alignment with RSPO P&C 2018.

Key Changes in the NPP 2021

• The HCV/HCS assessments requirements are aligned with P&C 2018 Annex 5: Transition from HCV to HCV-HCS Assessment, guided through RSPO Interpretation of Indicator 7.12.2 and Annex 5.

• New development planned on land re-clearing, defined as land previously developed and under active management, is exempted from NPP.

• New developments planned by smallholders pursuing a P&C certificate, either through group certification and/or a company’s supply bases, a risk-based approach applied with simplified toolkits made available.

• Case registry mechanism made available for RSPO members who wish to register their on-going NPP case with the Secretariat. Registered NPP cases are allowed to be completed based on NPP 2015 after the grace period of NPP 2021.

• Most NPP submissions (except NPP submissions by smallholders in low risk areas) are to be verified by RSPO Certification Bodies (CBs).

• A 30-day comment period is mandatory for all NPP submissions.

The NPP 2021 can be downloaded below.

For further information and/or clarification, please contact [email protected].

Webinars on NPP 2021

RSPO will be hosting interactive webinars to provide an overview of the newly endorsed New Planting Procedure 2021. The webinar will cover the following topics:

• The Review Process

• NPP 2021 key dates

• Key changes in NPP 2021

• Overview of NPP 2021

We encourage all RSPO members to register to learn about the key changes and to clarify any questions you may have. Kindly register by clicking the links provided below: