Important Updates for RSPO Certification Bodies (CB), Accreditation Body (AB), Endorsed Trainers (ET) and Members

As part of our commitment to keeping you informed, we are introducing this announcement as a key communication tool to share important updates for RSPO Certification Bodies (CBs), the Accreditation Body (AB), Endorsed Trainers (ETs), and Members. This ensures that all stakeholders remain aligned with the latest developments. The announcement will be updated periodically, so please check regularly for the most current information.

If you have any further questions or need clarification, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected]. 

Thank you for your continued commitment to sustainable palm oil.

1. Licence submission

Requirements:

• Requirement 5.3.21 of the RSPO Supply Chain Certification Systems 2020: The CB shall forward the audit report to the RSPO Secretariat within 14 days of the closure of the last non-conformance or, for audits without non-conformances, within 14 days of the closing meeting.
• Requirement 5.10.4 of the RSPO Certification Systems for Principles and Criteria (P&C) and RSPO Independent Smallholder (ISH) Standard 2020: The CB shall submit a copy of the audit report, including the RSPO metrics template and the certificate, to the RSPO Secretariat within seven (7) days of the certificate being issued by uploading it to the RSPO IT platform. Only the audit report and certificate will be published on the RSPO website.

Updates:

• Any audit conducted from 1 November 2024 is exempted to fulfill the requirements 5.3.21 of the RSPO Supply Chain Certification Systems 2020; and requirements 5.10.4 of the RSPO Certification Systems for P&C and RSPO ISH Standard.
• This is considering the use of the newly introduced RSPO Universal Audit Report (UAR)  template(s), which requires familiarisation with the documents, among the CBs and RSPO Members. 
• However, this exemption will only be applicable until 30 June 2025.

2. Certificate Validity

RSPO Supply Chain Certification Standard:

Definition “Certificate”: A document issued by an RSPO accredited CB when an organisation complies with the requirements of RSPO Supply Chain Certification Standard. The certificate is valid for five (5) years and allows the organisation to request a licence in the RSPO IT trading platform annually, subject to the successful completion of an audit. The certificate is only valid if the licence is active in the RSPO IT platform.

RSPO Principles and Criteria (P&C) and Independent Smallholder (ISH) Standard:

Requirements 5.11 of the RSPO Certification Systems for P&C and RSPO ISH Standard 2020: The CB shall  prepare  the  certificate  and  send  a  copy   to  the  RSPO Secretariat  by  uploading  it to  the  RSPO  IT  platform  within  seven (7) days  of  the certificate being issued. Registration and RSPO approval of the certificate on the RSPO IT platform results in the issuance and activation of an annual licence to trade. For the RSPO ISH certificate, refer to 6.7 of this document.

Updates:

• Due to the ongoing migration of information in the RSPO IT Platform (i.e., from PalmTrace to prisma), the certificate information (i.e., status, validity) displayed on the RSPO website, may not be accurate. 
• Any RSPO certificate holders that hold a valid certificate (i.e., not expired) but licence is expired in the RSPO IT platform between 1 February 2025 until 30 April 2025 will be considered as having a valid certificate and licences to continue the trading of RSPO Certified oil palm products, provided the certificate is not suspended or expired. 
• They may register transactions in prisma after the licence has been activated.

3. Registration of Transactions

Requirements:

• Requirement 5.7.2 of the 2020 RSPO Supply Chain Certification Standard: The involved supply chain actors mentioned in 5.7.1 shall do the following actions in the RSPO IT Platform (Refer to 5.7.2a, b, c, d, e)
• Requirement 3.8.16(i) of the 2018 RSPO Principles and Criteria Standard: Shipping Announcement in the RSPO IT platform shall be carried  out by the mills when RSPO Certified products are sold as certified  to refineries, crushers, and traders not more than three months  after dispatch with the dispatch date being the Bill of Lading or  the dispatch documentation date.

Updates:

• Due to the migration from PalmTrace to prisma, RSPO Members are experiencing challenges in registering transactions within the standard three (3) month timeline. 
• RSPO is providing interim measures that the transaction registrations for physical deliveries from 1 November 2024 may be conducted beyond the standard three month timeline.
• This exemption is made in consideration of the migration from PalmTrace to the prisma platform. 
• This exemption, however, will only be applicable until 30 June 2025.

4. Licence Status on RSPO Website

Requirements:

• Requirement 5.3.25 of the RSPO Supply Chain Certification Systems 2020: RSPO Secretariat will ensure the Supply Chain Certificate is available on the RSPO website. See RSPO website www.rspo.org
• Requirement 5.4.3 of the RSPO Supply Chain Certification Standard 2020: The site receiving RSPO Certified oil palm products shall ensure that the products are verified as being RSPO Certified by (Refer to 5.4.3a, b, c)

Updates:

• Due to the ongoing migration of information from PalmTrace to prisma, the certification information displayed on the RSPO website may not be fully accurate, as it is not yet directly integrated with prisma. 
• RSPO advises all members to verify the certification status of suppliers directly with the prisma Helpdesk. 
• RSPO will provide further communication to the RSPO Certification Bodies (CBs) and  Members once the integration is complete and the issue is resolved.

5. Transfer Licence Process

Issue:

Transfer of CBs should be initiated by the new CB in the RSPO IT platform, however the function to initiate Licence Transfer requests is currently under development by RSPO.

Updates:

• Due to the ongoing enhancement and functionality of the prisma platform, the RSPO certificate holders, RSPO Members and the new CB shall have completed the RSPO Transfer Request Form (TRF) and RSPO Transfer Request Report (TRR) and have submitted to the prisma Helpdesk to facilitate the licence transfer through the back-end.

6. Training and Refresher Course for the P&C 2018 Standards

Issue:

As the new RSPO P&C and ISH 2024 Standards take effect, there are currently no RSPO Endorsed Trainers (ET) available for the 2024 standards. However, RSPO P&C and ISH qualified lead auditors who are due for a refresher course must still attend training based on the 2018 P&C Standards, leading to potentially unnecessary resource expenditures. This situation presents a challenge in aligning training requirements with the latest standards while minimising costs and inefficiencies.

Updates:

• The RSPO Secretariat has approved an exemption for all existing RSPO-qualified Lead Auditors from attending the RSPO Lead Auditor Refresher Course for P&C (2018). 
• This exemption will remain in effect until RSPO Endorsed Trainers (ET) for the new RSPO P&C and ISH 2024 Standards become available.

7. Use of Universal Audit Report (UAR) Template

Issue:

The Universal Audit Report (UAR) templates shall be used by the CBs when conducting RSPO audits from 1 November 2024 onwards, until further announcements or communications from the RSPO Secretariat. 

From the Guidance Document for RSPO Universal Audit Report, for RSPO P&C and ISH audits, it was previously stated that when prisma goes live, only one version (i.e., Full Audit Report) of the audit report using the UAR template shall be uploaded to prisma when requesting a new licence by the CB.

Updates:

• All CBs are required to continue using the RSPO Universal Audit Report template for any audits conducted from 1 November 2024 onward.
• This is a standardised reporting template during the Interim Audit Measure on prisma for RSPO audits (P&C, ISH, and SCC), which enhances consistency of data and information for digitalisation in Phase 2.
• For P&C and ISH, due to the ongoing prisma development, CBs are required to use two versions of the UAR: the Full Audit Report and the Public Summary Report. This requirement will remain in place until further notice to maintain alignment with the evolving system and ensure a smooth transition process.
  • Full Audit Report – This contains all the detailed information of the audit findings and is meant for the CB and RSPO Secretariat only. This WILL NOT be published on the RSPO website. 
  • Public Summary Report – This report has been prepared to consider any sensitive information that is not meant for public review. This version of the audit report WILL BE published on the RSPO website. Specifically for Section 5: Audit Findings and Results and Section 10: Stakeholder Consultation Process of the UAR template, the CB shall ensure that only Audit Findings (Public Summary) and Table 10.2: For Public Summary Report are completed for the public view.