ssct glaubwürdigkeitskriterien / ssct credibility criteria

SSCT Glaubwürdigkeitskriterien / SSCT Credibility Criteria

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Nachfolgend finden Sie sowohl den zweiten Entwurf der Revision als auch den ersten Entwurf und die ursprüngliche Fassung der Glaubwür-digkeitskriterien des Sustainability Standards Comparison Tools (SSCT) zur Bewertung von Umwelt- und Sozialsiegel. Einige der Kriterien sind mit den folgenden Schlagworten gekennzeichnet. Below you can find the second draft of the revision as well as first draft and the original version of the Sustainability Standards Comparison Tool (SSCT) credibility criteria for evaluating environmental and social labels. Some of the criteria are marked with the following keywords.

„MiK“: Diese Abkürzung kennzeichnet die Mindestkriterien für die Dimension Glaubwürdigkeit. Diese Kriterien waren auch in der ur-

sprünglichen Fassung bereits Mindestkriterien. Diese verankern Themen von besonderer Relevanz. This acronym stands for minimum requirement. These criteria were minimum requirements in the original version already. Such criteria cover topics of special relevance.

„New MiK“: Diese Kriterien wurden im Rahmen der Revision zu Mindestkriterien aufgewertet. / These criteria have now been upgraded to minimum criteria during the revision.

„Art. 43“: „Art. 43“: Diese Kriterien sind besonders für die (nachhaltige) öffentliche Beschaffung relevant und orientieren sich an der EU Vergaberichtlinie 2014/24/EU (Art. 43, Absatz 1). Aus diesem Grund können inhaltliche Rückmeldungen zu Kriterien mit einer solchen Kennzeichnung nur sehr begrenzt berücksichtigt werden. "Art. 43": These criteria are particularly relevant for (sustainable) public procurement and are based on the EU Procurement Di-rective 2014/24/EU (Art. 43, para. 1). For this reason, content-related feedback on criteria marked with this keyword can only be considered to a very limited extent.

„New Crite-rion“:

Diese Kriterien wurden neu in das Gesamtraster für die Dimension Glaubwürdigkeit aufgenommen. / These criteria have been newly included in the criteria set for the credibility dimension.


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Inhalt / Contents

I. ZWEITER ENTWURF / SECOND DRAFT ........................................................................................................................................................3

A. Systemmanagement / Scheme Management ................................................................................................................................................3

B. Standardsetzung / Standard Setting ..............................................................................................................................................................7

C. Kontrollsystem / Assurance ..................................................................................................................................................................... 11

D. Produktkennzeichnung & Rückverfolgbarkeit / Claims & Traceability....................................................................................................... 34

Entfernte Kriterien / Removed Criteria ................................................................................................................................................................ 39

II. ERSTER ENTWURF / FIRST DRAFT ............................................................................................................................................................ 41

A. Systemmanagement / Scheme Management .............................................................................................................................................. 41

B. Standardsetzung / Standard Setting ............................................................................................................................................................ 45


D. Produktkennzeichnung & Rückverfolgbarkeit / Claims & Traceability....................................................................................................... 73

Entfernte Kriterien / Removed Criteria ................................................................................................................................................................ 80

III. URSPRÜNGLICHE FASSUNG / ORIGINAL VERSION ................................................................................................................................. 81

A. Systemmanagement / Scheme Management .............................................................................................................................................. 81

B. Standardsetzung / Standard Setting ............................................................................................................................................................ 86


D. Produktkennzeichnung & Rückverfolgbarkeit / Claims & Traceability..................................................................................................... 117


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I. ZWEITER ENTWURF / SECOND DRAFT

A. Systemmanagement / Scheme Management

SSCT ID

Type Topic Criteria name

Criteria question Response options

Requirements Guidance Reference Change(s) in

Governance

A.01 MiK Govern-ance

Scheme structure

Does the scheme owner make its organisational structure publicly availa-ble, including composi-tion of governance bod-ies?

Accepted: Yes Not ac-cepted: No

- An overview of the different governance bodies that manage and govern the scheme (i.e. board, advisory board, board of trustees, etc.) and participants of each body.

- This can be in the form of an organizational chart or narra-tive document.

Adapted from ISO 9001:2008

Criteria question, Response Options

A.02 MiK Govern-ance

Scheme legal status

Is the scheme owner a legal entity, or an organi-zation that is a partner-ship of legal entities, or a government or inter-gov-ernmental agency?


- Information showing the legal status of the organiza-tion, often also listed in publicly available commercial registers (commonly also for non-commercial organi-sations).

ISO/IEC 17067, 6.3.3

A.03 Govern-ance

Governance body ac-countability

Is there a mechanism for stakeholders to partici-pate in scheme develop-ment and decision-mak-ing?

Yes pub-licly availa-ble / Yes upon re-quest / No

- A clear mechanism (e.g. elections with voting mem-bers, accountability through deeds of trust, appoint-ment by boards that are in turn elected, stakeholder advisory body)

- Stakeholders in this case mean any parties who are di-rectly or indirectly affected by the decisions of the top-deci-sion making body (e.g. pro-ducers, consumer organiza-tions, members, etc.).

ISO/IEC 17067, 6.4.5

Criteria question, Response options

A.05 MiK & Art. 43

Govern-ance

Sources of fi-nance

Does the scheme owner make quantitative infor-mation on the income sources or financing structure of the scheme available?

Accepted: Yes, pub-licly Yes (on re-quest) Not ac-cepted: No

- An overview of quantitative information on the in-come sources or financing structure of the scheme (e.g. potentially including type of funding (i.e. finan-cial, assets, manpower, etc), name of funders, amount or %-distribution of income sources).

- This could be provided in the form of an annex to annual re-ports.

ISO 14024 7.4.3, 2014/24/EU Art. 43 (1)


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SSCT ID




A.06 Govern-ance

Quality man-agement

Does the scheme owner have an internal quality management system available?

No / Yes - An internal management system would generally be considered equivalent to a quality management sys-tem.

Adapted from ISO 9001 ISEAL Assur-ance Code 5.1.1

Guidance, Reference

A.15 Govern-ance

Complaints mechanism

Does the scheme owner have a publicly available and easily ac-cessible complaints mechanism

No Yes (on request) Yes, pub-licly

The mechanism shall require the scheme owner to: -Investigate and take appropriate action regard-ing relevant complaints and appeals, within de-fined timescales. -Review and take necessary corrective action; and -Keep a record of complaints and appeals and resulting actions. - Provide information on how to submit com-plaints or appeals must be easily to find and be available in relevant languages but at least in dominant regional language.

A mechanism through which stakeholders are en-abled to submit complaints and appeals (e.g. about the standard-setting process). The complaints mechanism should follow the criteria set out by the OECD, e.g. in their Due Diligence Guid-ance for Responsible Sup-ply Chains in the Garment and Footwear Sector. Com-plaints mechanisms should be legitimate, accessible, predictable, equitable, transparent, dialogue-based.

ISEAL Standard Code 5.11.1 OECD Guideline for Multi-national Enterprises OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Respon-sible Supply Chains in the Gar-ment & Footwear Sector

Revised criterion that was moved from standard setting to scheme manage-ment; Cri-teria question, Response Op-tions,Guidance, Guideline, Reference

A.07 MiK & Art. 43

Govern-ance

Independ-ence of scheme owner from certificate holder

Is the scheme owner economically independ-ent from the certificate holder?


- A policy which governs the independence of the scheme owner or proof that the scheme owner is not economically dependent on one single certificate holder.

ISO 14024 3.7 2014/24/EU Art. 43 (1); ISO 14024 5.15

Reference


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SSCT ID




A.08 New MiK

Govern-ance

Sustainabil-ity goals and objectives of the scheme

Does the scheme owner have sustainability-ori-ented goals and objec-tives?


- The scheme owner explicitly defines its overall goals and objectives, e.g. the mission and vision, either in its statutes or in a separate statement (e.g. a mission statement) - The goals and objectives are sustainability-oriented, i.e. oriented towards improving environmental and/or socio-economic impacts

Supported by ISO/IEC 17067, 6.3.4; ISEAL Im-pacts Code 7.1

Defined A.08 as MiK for second consulta-tion draft; Reference, Response Options

A.09 Govern-ance

Strategy to achieve scheme sus-tainability goals

Does the scheme owner have a strategy for meet-ing its sustainability-ori-ented goals and objec-tives?

No / Yes (on re-quest) / Yes, pub-licly

- A documented strategy that includes clear goals, ac-tions to achieve the goals, and a description of availa-ble/needed resources to execute the actions.

ISEAL Im-pacts Code 7.2

Reference

Impact

A.11 New MiK

Impact Impact measure-ment

Does the scheme owner have a system in place for measuring its out-comes and progress to-wards its sustainability goals?

Accepted: Yes, pub-licly Yes (on re-quest) Not ac-cepted: No

The proven existence of a monitoring and evaluation system, which contains indicators the scheme owner uses to measure its outputs, outcomes and impacts

- For ISO type I labels, the most relevant impact is usu-ally introduced prior to the development of criteria by conducting a life cycle based impact study. The resulting criteria are developed to re-duce these impacts. The de-sign of this approach there-fore also includes the meas-urement of impact and is eligi-ble for a 'Yes'. In order to re-ceive a ‘Yes’, the reasoning behind the conclusions for choosing the actual require-ments need to be available publicly or on request.

ISEAL Im-pacts Code 8.1, 8.2

Reference


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SSCT ID




A.12 Impact Adaptive manage-ment

Does the scheme owner use the results of moni-toring and evaluation for learning and improve-ments to its programme?

No / Yes - The scheme regularly feeds in the results of monitor-ing & evaluation in its internal processes, e.g. records of inclusion on the agenda of meetings, policy for when results are considered


A.13 Impact Reporting monitoring results

Does the scheme owner make sustainability re-sults from M&E availa-ble?


A report on the results of the monitoring and evalua-tion, which contains indicators the scheme owner uses to measure its outputs, outcomes and impacts

- For ISO type I labels, the life cycle impact study that is con-ducted prior to the develop-ment of criteria would serve as equivalent to the sustaina-bility results from M&E


Response options

A.3 – Supporting Strategies

A.14 Supporting Strategies

Technical As-sistance and access to fi-nance

Does the scheme imple-ment strategies or activi-ties to support improved performance of partici-pating enterprises, e.g. capacity building, access to finance?

No / Yes Either of the following: - Technical assistance in the form of e.g. workshops,

trainings, provision of equipment, etc. - A finance mechanism for increasing access possibili-

ties for enterprises seeking certification - Technical assistance beyond conformity such as ac-

tions like providing resources, coordinating confer-ences or other peer learning opportunities, etc.

Examples for finance mecha-nism include advance pay-ments to facilitate the pur-chase of produce from the farmers, the existence of a support fund, or the payment of verification/ certification fees via purchasing compa-nies.


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B. Standardsetzung / Standard Setting

SSCT ID



Requirements Guidance Reference Changes in

B.01 MiK & Art. 43

Stand-ard set-ting

Availa-bility of Stand-ard

Is the standard made publicly available free of charge?


-The standard document / performance measures is freely available for download on the scheme owner's website, incl. all criteria and accompanying documents to support consistent interpretation. All corresponding accompanying documents shall also be freely available.

Choose 'No' also if availa-ble only for members or for a fee

ISEAL Std-Set-ting Code 5.7.1 ISO 14024 7.4.3 2014/24/EU Art. 43 (1)


B.02 New MiK & Art. 43

Stand-ard set-ting

Key Is-sues

Has a set of key sustaina-bility issues in the sector or product lifecycle been defined in the standard-setting process?


A list or summary of evidence that identifies key sustainability issues within the scope of the standard. The standard document in-cludes requirements addressing the identi-fied issues In order for this question to be answered with a 'Yes', the provided information shall match the areas that the scheme owner ad-dresses in the standard. There shall be evi-dence that the information is used for the standard-setting process. This can be for ex-ample in the form of a research chapter in one of the standard setting documents.

- Evidence can include re-search studies and reports (e.g. governmental reports, university studies and pub-lications, NGO reports) that legitimize the identified key issues - For ISO Type I ecolabels: Key areas of environmental impacts have been identi-fied through research methods (e.g. LCA studies or equivalent) that are ro-bust and accurate enough to support environmental claims and that lead to ex-act and reproducible re-sults

ISEAL Std-Set-ting Code 5.1.1 2014/24/EU Art. 43 (1)

Defined as MiK for second consulta-tion draft; Response Option


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SSCT ID




B.03 MiK & Art. 43

Stand-ard set-ting

Stand-ard-set-ting process

Is the standard-setting procedure or a summary of the process for how stakeholders can engage made publicly available?'


Either of the following: standard-setting pro-cedures or public summary of how stake-holders can engage. Stakeholders are any individuals or organiza-tions that may affect or be affected by a scheme owner’s actions and decisions. Rele-vant stakeholders could be certified compa-nies, local communities, oversight providers, researchers or other scheme owners.

- In order for this criterion to be answered with a 'Yes', there shall be evi-dence that the scheme owner publicly announces each consultation period on its website

ISO 14024 5.11., ISEAL Std-Setting Code 5.3, 2014/24/EU Art. 43 (1)

Criteria question, Response option, Re-quire-ments, Guidance

B.04 MiK & Art. 43

Stand-ard set-ting

Public consul-tation of stand-ard

Can all stakeholders par-ticipate in the standard-setting process?

Accepted: yes Not ac-cepted: no

- Statement in standard-setting procedure that lists who should be consulted - This can be supplemented by records of who participated in most recent standard-setting process

- Members only: If it is a member organization and only members can consult - Invitation only: If the scheme selects stakehold-ers to be invited for consul-tation - All stakeholders: Open to any interested stakeholder

For ISO Type I: ISO 14024 6.2., ISEAL Std-Set-ting Code 5.4.2, 2014/24/EU Art. 43 (1)


B.05 Art. 43; New MiK

Stand-ard set-ting

Consul-tation with di-rectly affected stake-holders

Are stakeholders who are directly affected by the standard provided oppor-tunities to participate in standard setting?

Accepted: yes Not ac-cepted: no

- Identification and documentation of which stakeholders are directly affected - Records of activities to proactively reach out to these stakeholders and encourage their participation in standard setting

ISEAL Stand-ard-Setting Code 5.4.4 For ISO Type I: ISO 14024 5.9. and 6.2., 2014/24/EU Art. 43 (1)

Defined as new MiK for second consulta-tion draft, Response Options


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SSCT ID




B.06 Stand-ard set-ting

Pilot testing

Are draft standards field tested / piloted for rele-vance and auditability through the development and revision processes?

No / Yes / Not appli-cable

- Documented evidence (i.e. field test re-ports) that this is being done

Piloting of new require-ments can be done before or during the standards re-vision period. Not applicable for schemes that develop different product standards based on a life-cycle and multi-criteria approach (ISO type I labels).

ISEAL Stand-ards Code 5.5

Guidance, Reference

B.07 MiK & Art. 43

Stand-ard set-ting

Stake-holder feed-back

Does the scheme owner provide information on how the input received from consultations has been included in the final version of the standard?

Accepted: Yes, publicly Yes (on re-quest) Not ac-cepted: No

- Documentation of collected feedback from previous public consultations - Statement on how the collected feedback was used for the setting or revision of the Standard

ISEAL Std-Set-ting Code 5.4.5, 2014/24/EU Art. 43 (1)


Stake-holder repre-senta-tion in stand-ards de-cisions

Do the voting procedures of the decision-making body responsible for standard setting ensure that there is a balanced representation of stake-holder interests?

No / Yes - Documented information on the voting procedure of the highest decision-making body responsible for the standard setting process specifies that all categories of stake-holders are represented. The procedure shall also ensure that a stakeholder category is not able to dominate decision-making


B.09 MiK & Art. 43

Stand-ard set-ting

Stand-ard Re-view

Is the standard reviewed and, if necessary, revised at least every 5 years?

Accepted: Yes Not ac-cepted:

- A statement that details the frequency of review and revision of the applicable stand-ards, with a frequency of no more than five years.

- This information is most likely included in the stand-ard-setting procedure. This criterion aims at en-suring that there is a

For ISO Type I: ISO 14024 5.8.2. ISO Guide 59, 4.6

Guidance


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SSCT ID




No process to review the standard (all normative documents) to determine if there is a need for revision.


B.10 MiK & Art. 43

Stand-ard set-ting

Con-sistent inter-preta-tion

Does the scheme ensure that guidance is in place to support consistent in-terpretation of the stand-ard?


- The standard and/or separate guidance documents for interpretation shall include sufficient detail so that each individual crite-rion can be assessed consistently. - The standard and/or guidance documents shall specify necessary evidence for each cri-terion.

- ISO 14024, clause 6.4 pro-vides rules for developing ISO Type 1 environmental product criteria.

ISEAL Std-Set-ting Code 6.3.1, 6.3.2, 2014/24/EU Art. 43 (1), ISO 14024 6.4


Inter-preta-tion to regional context

Are there procedures and guidance for application or interpretation of the standard to regional con-texts?


Any one of the following: - Information in the standard or interpretive guidance about how each of the require-ments can be interpreted for application at a local level - Procedure for development of a local adap-tation of the standard including stakeholder consultation measures. - The standard organization has country-spe-cific standards

→ not applicable for schemes that develop dif-ferent product standards based on a life-cycle and multi-criteria approach (ISO type I labels) In case of ISO Type I labels or other process-based standards this is 'not appli-cable', as its approach does not allow for the recogni-tion of local contexts.

ISEAL Std-Set-ting Code 6.4 ISO Guide 59


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C. Kontrollsystem / Assurance

SSCT ID


Criteria question Response op-tions


C.1 – Assurance System

C.1.01 MiK Assur-ance System

Assess-ment method-logy

Is there a documented as-sessment methodology for assurance providers to assess conformity with the standard and made publicly available?

Accepted: yes Not accepted: no

- A documented methodology describ-ing requirements for assurance pro-viders and the assessment procedures (e.g. audit procedures or testing and verification methods) taking into ac-count the complexity and risk of a cli-ent, defines an assessment and sam-pling protocol, and which is commen-surate with the claims being made by the scheme and by clients. The assessment methodology shall in-clude procedures for at least the fol-lowing activities: • Assessment of conformance with the standard; • Review and decision; • Issuance of a certificate, where this is part of the scheme; • Periodic re-assessment. For each type of assessment used, the scheme owner shall specify require-ments for conducting the assessment that includes at least the following: • frequency and intensity of assess-ment; • sampling protocol for assessment;

The assessment can include sources of evidence to be assessed and their cor-responding admissible timeframes. Admissible timeframes can apply to all evidence, for example evidence within the past 12-months of the assessment will only be considered. Or timeframes can be specified by evidence type.

ISO/IEC 17067 ISEAL Assur-ance Code 5.1.2 GENICES Schedule A2 4.3 (5)

Criteria question, Response options, Re-quirements, Guidance


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SSCT ID




• knowledge and skills required in an auditor or assessment team (if assess-ment team is used); • minimum set of issues that need to be checked in every assessment; • a means of calculating the time needed for an assessment; • sources of evidence to be assessed; • minimum content of assessment re-ports; and • timelines for submission of com-pleted reports, following assessments.

C.1.02 New MiK & Art. 43

Assur-ance System

Scheme openness

Is application (to get certi-fied/verified) open to all potential applicants within the scope of the scheme?


- A policy which assures that every po-tential applicant can get certified/veri-fied/become a member, as long as it is within the scope of the scheme (i.e. in a country where the scheme operates, a product group which the standard covers, etc.).

ISO 14024 5.13. 2014/24/EU Art. 43 (1) GENICES Schedule A2, 6 ISEAL 6.2.1

Defined as new MiK for the second consultation draft; Response Options

C.1.03 Assur-ance system

Assess-ment fees

Does the scheme owner require assurance provid-ers to provide information on assessment fees?

No / Yes, available on request / Yes, publicly avail-able

The scheme owner shall provide infor-mation and update clients about the fees for application, initial certification and continuing certification free of charge either upon request or publicly available, or require this information to be made available by their assur-ance providers upon request or pub-licly available.

The scheme owner defines this re-quirement in certification require-ments/methodologies, or in the con-tract/agreement between the scheme owner and the assurance provider, or in a separate accreditation manual.

ISO/IEC 17021-1, 8.5.1 c) ISEAL Assur-ance Code 6.3.1 GENICES Schedule A2, 4.3 (6) & 9

Criteria question, Require-ments, Guidance


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SSCT ID




C.1.04 Art. 43 & new MiK

Assur-ance System

Fee levels Are levels of all costs and fees incurred by appli-cants and certificate hold-ers/licensees based on programme costs and kept as low as possible?


- All initial und recurring fees are listed and made available (on request or on the website) and these are justified and reasonable. - The scheme owner can justify that the level of all fees is calculated so as to cover necessary operational costs only.

- Costs and fees include assessment and testing fees and any recurring costs required to obtain and maintain a certificate or license, such as appli-cation fees, certificate fees, adminis-trative fees etc.

ISO 14024 5.16 GENICES Schedule A2, 9 2014/24/EU Art. 43 (1)

New MiK, Response Options


Assurance provider com-plaints and ap-peals mecha-nism

Does the scheme owner require assurance provid-ers to have a publicly available and easily acces-sible complaints and ap-peals mechanism?


The mechanism shall require the as-surance provider to: -Investigate and take appropriate ac-tion regarding relevant complaints and appeals, within defined time-scales. -Review and take necessary corrective action; and -Keep a record of complaints and ap-peals and resulting actions. - Provide information on how to sub-mit complaints or appeals must be easily to find and be available in rele-vant languages but at least in domi-nant regional language.

Appeals are about "conformity deci-sions" (certificate holder appealing the assurance provider), complaints are broader and can include com-plaints about a certificate holder by external parties, or also complaints about an assurance provider. Complaints should be directed in the first instance to the closest party on the chain to the incident, e.g first to assurance provider. If not resolved there, to oversight provider, and only then to scheme owner if not resolved elsewhere The complaints mechanism should fol-low the criteria set out by the OECD, e.g. in their Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains in the Garment and Footwear Sector. Com-plaints mechanisms should be

ISO/IEC 17021-1 9.8 ISO/IEC 17065 7.13 ISO 10001 ISEAL Assur-ance Code 6.7.3 GENICES Schedule A2, 4.3 (4) OECD Guideline for Multina-tional Enter-prises OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Respon-sible Supply Chains in the

C.1.15 inte-grated into C.1.05; Criteria Name, Cri-teria ques-tion, Re-quirements, Guidance, Reference


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SSCT ID




legitimate, accessible, predictable, eq-uitable, transparent, dialogue-based.

Garment & Footwear Sector

C.1.16 New crite-rion

Assur-ance System

Report on com-plaints

Does the scheme owner require assurance provid-ers to report to them on complaints received and on the actions taken to re-solve the issue?

No / Yes - A requirements for assurance pro-viders to provide reports is specified in the agreement between assurance providers and scheme owners or in the assurance/certification require-ments manual.

Criteria question, Require-ments

C.1.06 New MiK& Art. 43

Assur-ance System

Assess-ment re-ports availability

Does the scheme owner make, or require assur-ance providers to make, summary of certifica-tion/verification reports (with personal and com-mercially sensitive infor-mation removed) availa-ble?

Accepted: Yes (on request) / Yes, publicly Not accepted: No

- The scheme owner defines this re-quirement in certification require-ments/methodologies, or in the con-tract/agreement between the scheme owner and the assurance provider, or in a separate accreditation manual. The report should be made available in a UN and local language. - For schemes where assessment re-ports are not publicly available online, request a summary reports from as-surance providers to verify availability - If assessment reports cannot be shared by the scheme or by assurance providers due to confidentiality, chose "no, confidential" - If no assessment reports are written at all, choose "no, no reports"

Note: For ISO Type I labelling pro-grammes, the equivalent requirement is transparency on (nonconfidential) "evidence on which the awarding of the label is based" (see ISO 14024 clause 5.11).

ISEAL Assur-ance Code 6.1.1 (op-tional good practice) ISO 14024 5.11 2014/24/EU Art. 43 (1)

New MiK, for the sec-ond consul-tation draft, Criteria question, Require-ments


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SSCT ID





Assur-ance System

Data Man-agement for scheme owners

Does the scheme owner maintain an information management system?

No / Yes - The scheme owner shall maintain an information management system that supports gathering, management and analysis of relevant data from internal and external sources. This includes conformity data, such as audit and as-sessment reports from assurance pro-viders and oversight providers.

The information management system can be used to inform risk manage-ment, assurance system learning, and monitoring and evaluation.

ISEAL Assur-ance Code 4.4.2

Require-ments

C.1.07 new MiK

Assur-ance System

Duration of certifi-cate / li-cense

Does the certificate or li-cense define the scope of assurance and duration for which it is valid?

Accepted: Yes Not accepted: No

-The scheme owner ensures that the following information about enter-prises certified to its assurance system is current and available: -Name and address of the enterprise and the assurance provider; -Date the certification is granted; -Scope of assurance (to include the identification of the standard, prod-uct, process or service for which the certification is granted); -Expiry date of certificate (where used). The scheme owner defines guidance specifying that scope and duration of validity be included on certificates or licenses.

- For membership-based initiatives without certification schemes, mem-bership duration counts as equivalent, as long as the contract implies that standard rules must apply at all times. The list of enterprises and accompany-ing information can be made available at the assurance provider level.

ISO/IEC 17021-1 8.2.2 ISO/IEC 17065 7.7.1 ISEAL Assur-ance Code 6.3.1

Require-ments, Guidance

C.1.09 New MiK

Assur-ance System

Certified or verified enterprise / labelled

Does the scheme owner maintain or require assur-ance providers to main-tain a publicly accessible list of certified or verified


A publicly available list is made availa-ble (for example in a database or by uploaded lists), which contains at least the following? -Name of enterprise

information can be publicly available or made available on request

ISO/IEC 17021-1 8.3 and ISEAL Assurance Code 6.3.1

New MiK, criteria question, Response options,


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SSCT ID




product list

enterprises, or a list of verified products/product groups, or a list of mem-bers (in case of member-ship-based initiatives)?

-Name of product/s -The standard and scope to which it has been certified/verified.

GENICES Schedule A2, 4.5 ISO/IEC 17065 7.8

Require-ments, Guidance, Reference


Accred-ited/ap-proved as-surance providers

Does the scheme owner maintain a current and publicly available list of all accredited/approved as-surance providers?


- A system to list all assurance provid-ers accepted by the scheme or accred-ited by respective oversight providers is available, up-to-date and complete. This list could also be available on ac-cepted oversight providers’ websites.


Criteria name, Crite-ria question, Require-ments


Assur-ance System

Equivalence require-ments and recognition

Has the scheme specified equivalence requirements for any other scheme assur-ance results it recognises?

No /Yes Requirements and/or the process of recognition or partial recognition is speci-fied in a standard operating procedure, as-sessment methodology or certification re-quirements.

ISO/IEC Guide 68:2002 provides an in-troduction to the development, issu-ance and operation of arrangements for the recognition and acceptance of results produced by bodies undertak-ing similar conformity assessment and related activities. The activities to which this guidance is intended to ap-ply are those related to the conduct of unregulated marketplace transactions extending across borders from one country to another. Information should be evident in the scheme's certification and accredita-tion requirements.


New crite-rion added for second consultation draft

C.1.11 Assur-ance System

Frequency of assur-ance sys-tem re-view

Does the scheme owner review the effectiveness of their assurance system on a periodic basis?

No / Yes - Scheme owner has internal manage-ment system procedures that include periodic review of how well the assur-ance system is being implemented. This includes defining what data the

To assess performance of its assur-ance system, update classification of risks, and inform improvements, the scheme owner could, for instance, use following resources to inform its

ISO 17067 6.6 ISEAL Assur-ance Code 4.1.1, 4.2.1,

Guidance


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scheme owner collects to inform that review - Evidence can also include reports from assurance system reviews

assessment and risk classification: in-fomation of internal and external au-dits undertaken; risk assessments and mitigation measures taken; recom-mendations from assurance providers; complaints analysis; stakeholder in-put; M&E data; market analysis and scientific trends. The scheme owner can outsource this responsibility to oversight providers that operate its conformity assess-ment.

4.4.2., 4.5.2 and 5.4.1


Notifica-tion of as-surance system changes

Does the scheme owner require that clients and other affected stakehold-ers are notified of changes to the assurance requirements?

No / Yes - There shall be evidence of a protocol that ensures affected stakeholders are notified of changes to the scheme's assurance system in a timely manner, including timelines for when the changes come into effect for example by checking notifications after previ-ous assurance system changes.

ISO 17067 6.6.2 ISEAL Assur-ance Code 6.3.3

Require-ments, Ref-erences


Continu-ous im-prove-ment re-quire-ments

Does the scheme require performance improve-ments over time to main-tain certification?

No / Yes - The scheme owner defines this re-quirement in certification require-ments/methodologies, or in the con-tract/agreement between the scheme owner and assurance provider, or in a separate manual.

Some schemes may offer "partial cer-tification", some may use the more traditional approach of raising non-conformities that have to be closed within a specified timeframe, others may define different performance lev-els, etc. his criterion aims to address strategies for incentivising improve-ment beyond correcting non-compli-ances

Criteria question, require-ments, Guidance


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Chain of Custody: CoC As-sessment methodol-ogy

Does the scheme owner have a documented as-sessment methodology for assurance providers that are assessing chain of custody?

No / Yes, available on request / Yes, publicly avail-able / Not ap-plicable

- A documented methodology describ-ing requirements for assurance pro-viders and the assessment procedures of enterprises that handle or trade product along the supply chain (e.g. Chain of custody certification require-ments/methodologies)

Only applicable if claims are made re-garding the origin of certain ingredi-ents or products (CoC is required)

ISO/IEC 17067, ISEAL Assur-ance Code 5.1.2

Criteria question, Require-ments, Ref-erence

C.2 – Conformity Assessment

Conformity Assessment Process

C.2.02 MiK Con-form-ity As-sess-ment

Level of conform-ity assess-ment

Does the scheme require a third-party conformity assessment?


- The scheme owner requires in its certification requirements/methodol-ogies that: 1. Independent 3rd parties shall con-duct conformity and oversight assess-ments and decision-making. 2. 3rd party assurance providers shall be been approved by the scheme owner or accredited by an independ-ent oversight provider The scheme owner defines this re-quirement in certification require-ments/methodologies, or in the con-tract/agreement between the scheme owner and the oversight provider, or in a separate accreditation manual.

- 1st party is a self-assessment; 2nd party is by an interested stakeholder, e.g. an industry association; 3rd party is independent from the client. Some schemes may provide for different lev-els of conformity assessments (e.g. a self-assessment followed by a third-party audit), therefore the most inde-pendent level is the determining fac-tor, regardless of when the audit takes place. Also applicable if claims are made re-garding the origin of or certain ingre-dients or products (CoC is required).

ISO/IEC 17065, ISO/IEC 17021-1

C.2.18 inte-grated into C.2.02; Response options, Re-quirements, Guidance

C.2.04 new MiK

Con-form-ity As-sess-ment

Consistent decision-making on conform-ity

Does the scheme owner define requirements for decision-making to ensure that assurance providers use consistent procedures


- assurance providers must be re-quired to have documented proce-dures for determining conformity of clients with the standard.

The scheme owner defines this re-quirement in certification require-ments/methodologies, or in the con-tract/agreement between the scheme

ISEAL Assur-ance Code 6.4.9 ISO 14024 5.10 & 7.2.2

Criteria name, Crite-ria question, Requir-meents


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for determining the con-formity of clients with the standard?

Assurance providers must record each certification decision. Assurance providers must have a doc-ument process to conduct an effective review prior to taking conformity deci-sions. The assurance providers must take ac-count of at least the following infor-mation in taking conformity decisions: the audit report / document review where relevant, details on non-con-formities and, where applicable, the corrections and corrective actions taken by the client a recommendation whether or not conformity is achieved, together with any conditions or observations.

owner and the oversight, or in a sepa-rate accreditation manual.

GENICES Schedule A2 4.3 (2) & (3) ISEAL 5.1.8 and ISO 17065 7.6 and ISO 17021 9.5

C.2.05 MiK Con-form-ity As-sess-ment

Procedure on reme-diation

Does the scheme owner require assurance provid-ers to have a procedure in place for how clients are required to address non-conformities, including when a certificate or li-cense is suspended or re-voked?


- The scheme owner defines this re-quirement in certification require-ments/methodologies, or in the con-tract/agreement between the scheme owner and the oversight provider. The procedure specifies how different degrees of non-conformity (if applica-ble) are to be addressed and remedi-ated, and the applicable timeframes in order to support consistency between assurance providers. The procedure also specifies the con-ditions under which certification / the license may be suspended or

The scheme owner stipulates the re-quirements that assurance providers must follow. However, procedures de-veloped by assurance providers are also acceptable.

ISEAL Assur-ance Code 6.4.10 ISO/IEC 17065 7.11 ISO/IEC 17021-1 9.6 GENICES Schedule A2, 4.3 (2) & (3)

Criteria question, Require-ments, Guidance


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withdrawn, partially or in total, for all or part of the scope of certification / the license and the applicable timeframes. The scheme owner has a guidance specifying different gradations of non-conformities (if applicable) and how to determine them, verifying corrective actions arising from non-conformities and allowing for appeals of non-con-formities, in order to support con-sistency between assurance providers

Sustainability Audits

C.2.01 Con-form-ity As-sess-ment

ISO Com-pliance for certifica-tion/verifi-cation

Does the scheme owner require assurance provid-ers to be accredited to ISO/IEC 17065, ISO/IEC 17021, ISO/IEC 17020 or equivalent with a relevant scope, or alternatively to be compliant with the ISEAL Assurance Code?

No / Yes / Not applicable

- Where the scheme incorporates ac-creditation as an oversight mecha-nism, the scheme owner shall ensure that oversight providers comply with ISO/IEC 17011 and they are a member of the IAF or ILAC (for laboratories). Proxy accreditation: Where the scheme owner accepts ISO accredita-tion of assurance providers, they shall require that the assurance providers share the results of internal audits and any remediation with the scheme owner. The scheme owner defines this re-quirement in Chain of custody certifi-cation or traceability

Only applicable if the scheme requires audits, laboratory testing or if claims are made regarding the origin of or certain ingredients or products (CoC is required). Alternatively, the scheme owner's compliance with the ISEAL Assurance Code is equivalent as it requires that there is oversight of assurance provid-ers' competence, consistency and im-partiality. Besides ISO/IEC 17025 (General re-quirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories), recognized standards are ISO 15189 (Medical laboratories - Particular


C.2.17 & C.2.22 inte-grated into C.201; Crite-ria question, Require-ments, Guidance


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requirements/methodologies, certifi-cation requirements/methodologies, or in the contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the oversight provider, or in a separate manual.

requirements for quality and compe-tence), OECD Principle of GLP (Good Laboratory Practice) or equivalent na-tional standards.


Audit fre-quency

Does the scheme owner require that clients are audited on a regular, re-curring basis?

No/ Yes - The scheme owner defines this re-quirement in certification require-ments/methodologies, or in the con-tract/agreement between the scheme owner and the oversight provider, or in a separate accreditation manual

Only applicable if the scheme requires audits. - This question refers to external au-dits. In a full audit process, all require-ments of the standard and the whole system of the client that is to be as-sessed are verified. This would usually include re-certification audits but not necessarily surveillance audits in case these are less rigorous. In the assess-ment, state the least possible fre-quency, i.e. if an interval can be skipped for certain clients, e.g. based on a risk assessment, the frequency shall be reduced (see also criterion on risk-based audit frequency)

ISO 17067 5.3.8 ISO 17065 7.9.3/4 ISEAL Assu-rance Code 5.1.2

Require-ments, Gui-dance


Risk-based audit fre-quency

Is the frequency or inten-sity of an audit oversight assessment based on a risk assessment of the cli-ent or assurance pro-vider?

- No / Yes / Not appli-cable

- 'Documented risk management pro-tocol in the certification/verifica-tion/oversight/accreditation re-quirements detailing how the scheme assesses risk of clients or assurance providers and how it adapts the frequency or intensity of audits or assessments based on that risk assessment. The scheme owner shall require its use by assurance

Only applicable if the scheme requires audits. This question does not apply to CoC audits. Risk-based audits make the whole cer-tification process more efficient and potentially less costly.

ISEAL Assu-rance Code 6.2.2 ISO 17021-1 9.1.4.2 ISO/IEC 17011 7.4.6

Criteria question, Require-ments, Re-ference


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providers and oversight providers respectively.'


Audit ac-tivities

Does the scheme owner specify the required in-tensity for each type of audit and the activities that must be carried out by assurance providers for each of its standards?

No / Yes / not applicable

Guidance to assurance providers on the types of activities required to be included in a full audit. Activities might be: Document review (off-site) only / Document review on-site / Field visit (incl. office visit & doc. review) / Off-site interviews with cli-ents / Remote sensing / Stakeholder engagement

Only applicable if the scheme requires audits. Also applicable to Chain of Cus-tody schemes. Intensity refers to how long an audit should take, how many interviews should occur, how many sites should be investigated, how many samples should be taken, how many issues must be checked for each type of au-dit. Field visit can include any activity that assesses the implementation of prac-tices as opposed to the existence of procedures.


C.2.19 inte-grated into C.2.07; Criteria question, Require-ments, Guidance


Unsched-uled au-dits

Does the scheme owner allow or require assurance providers to do unsched-uled audits?

Not allowed / Allowed / Re-quired / Not applicable

-The scheme owner defines this re-quirement in certification require-ments/methodologies, or in the con-tract/agreement between the scheme owner and the oversight provider, or in a separate accreditation manual

Only applicable if the scheme requires audits.

ISO 17021 9.6.4.2 ISEAL Assur-ance Code 5.1.2


Stake-holder participa-tion in au-dit

Are auditors and asses-sors required to seek ex-ternal stakeholder input during the audit and oversight assessment pro-cess?


- The scheme owner defines this re-quirement in certification require-ments/methodologies, or in the con-tract/agreement between the scheme owner and the oversight provider, or in a separate accreditation manual. There should be explicit reference that the scheme requires auditors to proactively solicit external stakeholder

Only applicable if the scheme requires audits. This question does not apply to CoC audits.




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input during the audit process and to show how they took comments into account.


Audit / evaluation report for-mat

Does the scheme owner require assurance provid-ers to follow a consistent report format?


- The scheme owner defines this re-quirement in certification require-ments / methodologies, or in the con-tract / agreement between the scheme owner and the oversight pro-vider, or in a separate accreditation manual - The scheme owner should have a guidance specifying formats for audit reports and reporting, in order to sup-port consistency between assurance providers. Alternatively to a guidance on audit report formats, mandatory templates may be provided, however, guidance on reporting should still be available.

Only applicable if the scheme requires audits. - the report should include section on explanations of auditors or assessors decisions for determining conformity with requirements and for their choice of samples taken during the audit.

ISEAL Assur-ance Code 5.1.2 ISO/IEC 17021-1 9.4.8 ISO/IEC 17065 7.7



Decision-making in-depend-ence

Are the people making the conformity/over-sight/accreditation deci-sion different from those engaged in the audit/as-sessment process?


- The persons or committees taking conformity decisions must be differ-ent from those who carried out the conformity assessments and must have appropriate competence. - The scheme owner defines this re-quirement in certification require-ments/methodologies, or in the con-tract/agreement between the scheme owner and the oversight provider, or in a separate accreditation manual


ISO 17065 7.6.2, ISO 17021 9.5.1.1, ISEAL 5.6.4

Criteria question, Require-ments, Ref-erences

Group Certification


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C.2.13 Group certifi-cation

Group in-ternal manage-ment sys-tem

Is the group required to have a shared manage-ment system with clear responsibilities for imple-mentation of the system?


- The scheme owner defines this re-quirement in the group certification or verification requirements/methodolo-gies, or in the contract/ agreement between the scheme owner and the oversight provider or in a separate ac-creditation manual.

Only applicable if the scheme requires audits and allows group certification.


Require-ments


Group in-ternal ver-ification

Does the scheme owner have a mechanism that prescribes and justifies how all sites within a group certification will be audited over time?


- The scheme owner defines this re-quirement in the group certification or verification requirements/methodolo-gies, or in the contract/agreement be-tween the scheme owner and the oversight provider or in a separate ac-creditation manual.


ISEAL Assur-ance Code 5.1.6; ISO 17021-1 9.1.5



Group ex-ternal sample size

Is there a sample size for-mula and sampling ap-proach to determine the number of group mem-bers that is externally ver-ified and how the sample is chosen?

No / Yes / Yes based on risk assessment / Not applica-ble




Require-ments, Ref-erences


Non-con-forming-group members

Do the requirements on group certification/verifi-cation define the condi-tions under which a group member shall be sus-pended or removed from a group?





Require-ments, Cri-teria name

Chain of Custody


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C.2.20 Con-form-ity as-sess-ment pro-cess

Chain of Custody: Physical handling

Does the scheme owner require all enterprises that are physically han-dling the certified product to undergo a CoC audit if the product can be des-tined for retail sale as a certified, labelled prod-uct?


- This shall be in the form of a written requirement as part of the certifica-tion requirements. Possibly review scope of certificates, if available online.

Only applicable if CoC is required

Laboratory Testing


Labora-tory test-ing: Infor-mation on test meth-ods

In the documented as-sessment methodology, are test methods either referred to or included?

No Yes (on re-quest) Yes, publicly Not applica-ble

- The required test methods need to be referred to or provided in the standard document or in other corre-sponding documents.

Only applicable if scheme requires la-boratory testing

GENICES Schedule A2, 4.13 (2) ISO 17025


Labora-tory test-ing: Sur-veillance lab testing of prod-ucts

Are there rules on ran-dom sampling and testing for the conformity moni-toring?


- Written evidence is required by the scheme owner that includes rules on random sampling and testing of the (final) products. OR - Written evidence is required by the scheme owner that includes rules on random sampling and testing of sam-ples collected in the field e.g. soil or waste water samples.


GENICES Schedule A2, 4.11 ISO 17025


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Labora-tory test-ing: Non-conform-ing prod-ucts

Is there a procedure to deal with non-conforming products manufactured by a client / licensee?


- Written evidence is required by the scheme owner that includes a defined procedure to deal with non-conform-ity



Auditor /Assessor Competencies

C.3.01 new MiK

Per-sonnel com-peten-cies

Personnel compe-tencies

Does the scheme owner define the qualifications, competency, the required minimum industry audit experience and training system and content for assurance provider asses-sors?'

Accepted:

Yes

Not accepted:

No

-The scheme owner has specified

qualifications and competence criteria

for assessors / assurance providers or

requires that assurance providers

have. (check that assurance providers

have this in place)

- qualifications and competencies cri-

teria set minimum requirements for

assessor / auditor training and audit-

ing experience in the sector covered

by the standard.

-- The scheme owner defines this re-quirement in certification require-ments/methodologies, or in the con-tract/agreement between the scheme owner and the oversight provider, or in a separate accreditation manual - The scheme owner has a guidance specifying the training system and content in order to support con-sistency between assessors / assur-ance providers.

This aims to ensure that the assessors / assurance provider are familiar with the standard through both initial and ongoing training on its interpretation.

ISO /IEC

17021-1 7.1.

& 7.2

ISO/IEC

17065 6.1

ISEAL Assur-

ance Code

5.5.1, ISEAL

Assurance

Code 5.5.2

ISO17065

6.1.2.1 and

ISO 17021

7.1.2 and

7.1.4.

Combined with C.3.02; Criteria question, Require-ments, Ref-erence


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C.3.03 Per-sonnel com-peten-cies

Auditing skills train-ing

Does the scheme owner require that assurance provider auditors success-fully complete auditor training on a standard that is relevant to the scheme and that is based on ISO 19011, or equiva-lent?


- The scheme owner defines this re-quirement in the contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the assurance provider, in a separate ac-creditation manual or for example in certification requirements/methodol-ogies.

Only applicable if scheme requires au-dits. It should be evaluated whether audi-tors are being trained on product-spe-cific, industry-specific and country-specific social and ecological risks. It should also be evaluated whether they have been trained in identifying most prominent social risks, such as a lack of the freedom of association or gender-based-risk such as gender-based violence.

ISO 19011 ISEAL Assur-ance Code 5.5.1

Criteria question, Require-ments, Guidance, Reference


Regular auditor and asses-sor evalu-ation

Does the scheme owner require that assurance and oversight providers implement a programme to monitor and ensure the continued competence and good performance of assessors and auditors?

No / Yes The scheme owner defines this re-quirement in certification require-ments/methodologies, or in the con-tract/agreement between the scheme owner and the assurance and over-sight provider, or in a separate accred-itation manual. The assurance and oversight provider has programme to monitor compe-tence and performance of auditors / assessors.

Examples for evaluation methods to check competence and performance are: Review of records, feedback, in-terviews, observations, examinations.

ISO/IEC 17065 7.1.3 ISO/IEC 17021-1 7.1.3 ISEAL 5.5.1 and 5.5.2, 5.5.4 ISO 17021, Annex B

Criteria name, Crite-ria question, Require-ments, Re-ferences


Personnel suspen-sion

Does the scheme owner require that assurance providers have a Code of Conduct, or equivalent, and supporting proce-dures to guide behavior and actions of assurance

No / Yes - The scheme owner defines this re-quirement in certification require-ments/methodologies, or in the con-tract/agreement between the scheme owner and the oversight provider, or in a separate accreditation manual



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provider personnel and to address misconduct?



Assessors Calibra-tion

Does the scheme owner carry out or require assur-ance providers to carry out calibration activities to ensure that assessors /auditors are aligned?

No / Calibration activities are carried out on an ad hoc ba-sis / There is a de-fined calibra-tion pro-gramme con-ducted annu-ally

'A calibration programme should en-tail: - Monitoring and comparison of asses-sors’ performance - Schedule of calibration activities - Calibration formats

Calibration refers to activities that are undertaken to ensure that all asses-sors / auditors have the same under-standing of a programme's require-ments. Monitoring and comparison of asses-sors / auditor performance: This is to understand where and when calibra-tion is needed and should be based on various types of information sources, such as assessment reports, witness audits, feedback from clients, review of received complaints and appeals. Schedule of calibration activities: This should include calibration activities at pre-defined events, e.g. when scheme requirements change or when assur-ance provider processes change, when results from auditor monitoring have been processed. It should also include regular check-ins with assessors / au-ditors and ad hoc calibration events as needed.

ISEAL 5.5.3 Criteria question, Response options, Guidance


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Calibration formats: This should en-compass different types of calibration activities, e.g. classroom lectures / webinars, auditor roundtables, case studies and exercises, tests.



auditor and asses-sor impar-tiality

Does the scheme owner assess potential risks to auditor / assessor impar-tiality and where war-ranted, do they require assurance providers and oversight bodies to imple-ment practices to mitigate these risks?

No / Yes The scheme owner includes auditor / assessor impartiality risks in their risk management plan/register. A require-ment for assurance and oversight pro-viders is specified in certification re-quirements or oversight manuals or other normative documents.

Some of the practices that can miti-gate the risks to impartiality include rotation of auditors and other tech-nical experts in assessments; assur-ance body rotation; occasionally hav-ing second set of eyes - have a second auditor join; and witness audit / in-spection every x time period.

ISEAL Assur-ance Code 5.6.2, ISO/IEC 17065 4.2.3, ISO/IEC 17021-1 5.2.3, ISO/IEC 17011 4.4.6, 4.4.7

New crite-rion added for the sec-ond consul-tation draft

Oversight

C.4.01 New Mik

Over-sight

oversight mecha-nism

Does the scheme require an oversight mechanism and is it documented?

Accepted: The scheme owner has a mecha-nism that re-views the per-formance of as-surance provid-ers and audi-tors in conduct-ing the assess-ment / the scheme owner requires inde-pendent

The scheme owner documents this re-quirement in a contract/agreement between the scheme owner and an oversight body oversight provider, in a separate accreditation manual or for example in certification require-ments/methodologies. ‘As a minimum the scheme owner shall include a review of the perfor-mance of assurance providers and as-sessors in conducting the assessment,

Reviewing the performance of assur-ance providers and auditors can be done remotely or in-person and incor-porate reviews of audit reports and decision-making. Best practice is to ensure that there is an independent assessment and decision-making. This may mean independent accreditation or that oversight is conducted by a separate organisation from the assur-ance provider and scheme owner.’

ISO/IEC 17011 ISEAL Assur-ance Code 5.4.1

Criteria question, Response options, Re-quirements, Guidance


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oversight that meets ISO 17011’ Not accepted: No

this can be done remotely or in-per-son and incorporate reviews of audit reports and decision-making.

C.4.03 over-sight

Independ-ence of oversight

How independent is the provision of oversight?

No / Oversight is carried out by assurance provider or scheme owner/ Oversight is carried out by a third party

- if oversight is carried out by an over-sight provider. The oversight provider and the assurance provider must be separate legal entities.

ISO 17011, 2017, 4.4

Criteria question, Response Option, Re-quirements

C.4.04 over-sight

Oversight intensity

Does the scheme define the intensity of oversight activities on assurance providers?

No / little rules on oversight in-tensity / comprehensive rules for defin-ing oversight intensity

- The scheme owner defines this re-quirement in the contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the oversight provider, in a separate ac-creditation manual or for example in certification requirements/methodol-ogies.

Intensity refers to e.g. the kinds of oversight activities to be carried out, how long an oversight assessment should be, how many interviews should occur, how many sites should be investigated, how many samples should be taken, how many issues must be checked for each type of ac-tivity. The scheme owners can devolve the responsibility of defining the details of the intensity to the oversight provider.

ISO 17011, 2017, 7.4.4-7.4.7 ISEAL Assur-ance Code 5.4.1

Criteria question, Require-ments, Guidance, References

C.4.05 over-sight

Risk-based oversight intensity

Does the intensity of oversight activities take account of risk factors as-sociated with the assur-ance providers and their personnel?

No / Yes There shall be a documented process of how the scheme requires risk to be assessed and how it accordingly allo-cates identified assessment needs. Taking account of risk can also help fo-cus oversight on issues that need at-tention.

- Risk-based accreditation or oversight assessment make the whole accredi-tation/oversight process more effi-cient and less costly.

ISO 17011, 2017, 7.4.6 and 7.9.3 and 7.10.1, ISEAL Assur-ance Code 6.2.2

Criteria question, Require-ments, Ref-erence


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C.4.06 over-sight

Assurance providers applica-tion re-strictions

Does the scheme owner clearly define the applica-tion and selection process for assurance providers?

No / Yes - The application and selection pro-cess is sufficiently defined by the scheme owner in contracts/agree-ments, in referenced policies or certi-fication requirements/methodologies to require that selection of assurance providers is only by reference to the scope (or issues relating to open fi-nancial payments or incomplete appli-cation submissions). - The application process/forms of the oversight provider should be online and can be verified.

The scheme owner ensures that all as-surance providers that meet the scheme requirements are free to ap-ply to operate under the scheme, irre-spective of their country of residence, size and of the existing number of pro-viders already operating under the scheme. Where the scheme owner limits par-ticipation of assurance providers in their scheme, are the reasons for this explained and justified.

ISO 17011, 2017, 4.4.10

Criteria name, Crite-ria question, Require-ments, Guidance

C.4.07 over-sight

Proxy ac-credita-tion/over-sight

Does the scheme owner assess scheme-specific competence when accept-ing assurance providers that are accredited to other relevant standards (proxy accreditation)?

No / Yes - The scheme owner specifies this re-quirement in a contract/agreement between the scheme owner and an oversight provider, in a separate ac-creditation manual or for example in certification requirements/methodol-ogies.

Proxy accreditation is a type of over-sight employed by a scheme, whereby recognition of another scheme’s over-sight mechanism is deemed sufficient to demonstrate assurance. The response option "Yes" means that schemes only accept assurance pro-viders that are accredited to similar or generic scopes only if they assess be-forehand their scheme-specific com-petence, i.e. whether they have the competence required to do conform-ity assessment related to the scheme's standard(s).


Criteria name, crite-ria question, Require-ments, Gui-dance


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C.4.08 over-sight

Oversight provider com-plaints and ap-peals mecha-nism

Does the scheme have or require oversight provid-ers to have documented and accessible complaints and appeals mechanisms?

No / Yes The complaints resolution mechanism procedures define: - clear steps, timelines and responsi-bilities to resolve the complaint - in what form and to whom a com-plaint needs to be submitted to

ISO 17011, 2017, 7.12 and 7.13 ISEAL Assur-ance Code 5.1.12

Criteria name, Crite-ria question, Reference

C.4.09 over-sight

Procedure on over-sight re-mediation

Does the scheme owner define or request that oversight bodies define how assurance providers have to address non-con-formities raised through oversight?

No / Yes - The scheme owner specifies this re-quirement in a contract/agreement between the scheme owner and over-sight provider, in a separate accredita-tion manual or for example in certifi-cation requirements/methodologies. - The oversight provider has a guid-ance and timeline specifying how dif-ferent gradations of non-conformity are to be addressed and remediated. The requirements or guidance also specify the conditions under which ac-creditation may be suspended or with-drawn, partially or in total, for all or part of the scope of accreditation.

ISO 17011, 2017, 7.6.8 and 7.6.9


C.4.10 over-sight

Oversight reports availability

Does the scheme owner require that summaries of oversight reports (with personal and commer-cially sensitive infor-mation removed) are made publicly available?

No / Yes (on request) / Yes, publicly

- The scheme owner specifies this re-quirement in a contract/agreement between the scheme owner and an oversight provider, in a separate ac-creditation manual or for example in certification requirements/methodol-ogies. - For schemes where assessment

ISO 17011, 2017, 8.2.2 ISEAL Assur-ance Code 6.3.1

Require-ment, Ref-erence


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reports are not publicly available online, request summary reports from oversight body to verify availability.

C.4.11 over-sight

On-site oversight assess-ment

Does the scheme owner require that on-site as-sessments of assurance providers are included in the oversight cycle?

No / Yes - The scheme owner defines this re-quirement in the contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the oversight body, in a separate accredi-tation manual or for example in certi-fication requirements/methodologies.

ISO 17011, 2017, 7.6.2

Require-ments, Cri-teria Ques-tion

C.4.12 over-sight

Oversight witness audit

Does the scheme owner require that oversight in-cludes assurance provider performance reviews in the field?

No / Yes - The scheme owner specifies this re-quirement in a contract/agreement between the scheme owner and an oversight provider, in a separate ac-creditation manual or for example in certification requirements/methodol-ogies.

-Only applicable if the scheme re-quires audits

ISO 17011, 2017, 4.2 and 7.4.7 ISEAL Assur-ance Code 5.5.4

Reference, Criteria question, Require-ments


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D. Produktkennzeichnung & Rückverfolgbarkeit / Claims & Traceability

SSCT ID




D.1. - Traceability

D.1.01 Trace-ability

Chain of Custody standard / Traceabil-ity re-quire-ments

Does the scheme owner have a documented Chain of Custody standard or other traceability require-ments?

No / Yes, on request / Yes, publicly / Not applicable

Either of the following: - A CoC standard document which pro-vides a description of its chain of cus-tody approach - A description of other measures for ensuring that certain information on ingredients/products are passed through the supply chain e.g. data sheets of chemicals or certificates from used inputs

UN Global Compact, BSR (2014). A Guide to Traceabil-ity


Mixing of inputs

Are there any CoC re-quirements for non-certi-fied material, in case mix-ing of certified with un-certified inputs is al-lowed?


- A description of how it traces back the origin of uncertified material

If there is no evidence of a written statement, this shall be a 'No'. 'Not applicable' if: - Statement telling that it does not al-low the mixing of its certified with un-certified ingredients. - It is a product label (ISO type I label, e.g. Blue Angel)


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SSCT ID





Records for tracea-bility

Does the scheme owner require assurance provid-ers to verify that all enter-prises within the chain maintain accurate and ac-cessible records that al-low any certified product or batch of products to be traceable from the point of sale to the buyer?


- A statement in which it requires as-surance providers to verify that all suppliers maintain documentation of purchases (incl. supplier's name and address, date of purchase, quantity and product type, certificate code), and sales (incl. buyer's name and ad-dress, date of sale, quantity and prod-uct type, certificate code). This could also be covered by a requirement in the chain of custody standard.

Only applicable if claims are made re-garding the origin of certain ingredi-ents or products (CoC is required) This information can normally be found in the chain of custody stand-ards. If available, mandatory template checklists could be used to verify the requirements.

Require-ments


Record keeping

Are companies required to keep CoC records for at least the term of certifi-cate validity?


A statement requiring suppliers to maintain documentation of CoC rec-ords (documentation of purchases incl. supplier's name and address, date of purchase, quantity and prod-uct type, certificate code), and sales (incl. buyer's name and address, date of sale, quantity and product type, certificate code) for at least the time of certification validity.

only applicable if claims are made re-garding the origin of certain ingredi-ents or products (CoC is required). In order to be available for possible checks and assurance activities, the required documentation should be available for at least the duration of certification.

D.1.06

Trace-ability

Traceabi-lity sys-tem

Does the scheme have a traceability system that enables checking of product flow be-tween links of the sup-ply chain?


- A description of the system it uses to collect and analyze data from suppliers in order to trace back different certified inputs across different supply chain enti-ties

only applicable if claims are made regarding the origin of certain in-gredients or products (CoC is re-quired)


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SSCT ID




D.2 – Claims & Labelling

D.2.01 MiK Claims & La-belling

Claims policy & clarity of claims

Does the scheme owner have documented re-quirements for the use of its symbols, logos and/or claims related to its scheme and make them publicly available?

Accepted:

yes

Not accepted:

no

- A document that describes the rules

for applying for and using claims and

logos.

- A clear indication to what the claim/label applies, e.g. the complete product, a product component, pack-aging, service, for promotional use, etc.

Labelling requirements ensure that where claims or logos are permitted, they are accurate, truthful, can be substantiated and are not misleading

ISO/IEC

17021-1,

8.4.1

ISEAL

Claims

Guide

2.5.1,

2.1.3

ISO/TS

17033

5.1.5

ISO/IEC 17030 4.2

Criteria name, Crite-ria question, Response options, Re-quirements. Guidance Combined with D.2.02

D.2.11 New crite-rion

Claims & La-belling

Accuracy of claims

'Do permitted claims or logos accurately reflect and are proportional to the scope and intended objectives/impacts of the standard?'

No / Yes This aims to clarify which part of a product the label applies to and also which characteristic is tested (tech-nical safety, chemical safety, function-ality...).

ISEAL Claims Good Practice 1.3.2, ISO/TS 17033 5.1.1, ISO/IEC 17030 5.3

New crite-rion devel-oped in first consultation round.

D.2.03 Claims & La-belling

Relevant claims

Do claims requirements specify the types of claims that can be made for dif-ferent types of CoC mod-els, where the scheme


- An overview of differences in claims, depending on the types of CoC used. These claims shall accurately reflect the type of CoC. For example: - Claims on origin can only be made

"Not applicable" if: - Product label - Only use of one CoC model

ISEAL Claims Guide 1.1.6


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SSCT ID




owner allows for more than one model?

under Identity preserved - Claims on 100% certified material re-quire Segregation - When Mass Balance or Controlled Blending is used, claims need to show that mixing is allowed - When Certificate Trading (Book & Claim) is allowed, "supports sustaina-ble production" (or similar) is an ade-quate claim


Tracking mecha-nism

Are claims and label users required to use unique li-cense numbers or other tracking mechanisms?


'- A visible mechanism to be used by label and claims users which provides the ability to trace back the product to its origins. Schemes may distinguish between COC-numbers to be applied on claims and logo license numbers to be applied when labels are used.

Not applicable if no claims are made regarding the origin of certain ingredi-ents or products (CoC is required).

ISEAL Claims Guide 3.3, 3.4


Accurate use of claims

Does the scheme owner have a documented pro-cess to monitor the use of its symbols, logos and/or claims related to its scheme, including a com-plaints mechanism to re-port misuse?'

No / Yes Either of the following: - Clearly defined activities pursued to make sure labels and claims are used accurately - A complaints mechanism that allows stakeholders to report the false use of labels and claims



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SSCT ID





Graphic label ex-planatory statement

Is the label accompanied by an explanatory text claim or a link to further information?


Either of the following: - A short text next to the logo explain-ing some detail about the label - A QR code, link or any other form of additional information which helps to understand the label Not applicable if: - No graphic labels are used

ISEAL Claims Guidance 2.2.3

Reference


Conse-quences of misuse of claims

Does the scheme have a procedure that defines specific consequences of misuse of claims and do they also require this of their assurance providers?

No / Yes Statement/policy that defines what happens if misuse is discovered. Re-quirement in assurance manual or in agreements between scheme and as-surance providers.

This question also relates to fraudu-lent claim use.

ISEAL Claims Guide 3.3, 3.4 ISO 17067 6.5.12, ISO 14024 7.6. ISO 17021 (8.3) and ISO 17065 (4.1.3) ISO/IEC 17030 7.3.1

Criteria question, Require-ments, Guidance, Reference


Seite 39

Entfernte Kriterien / Removed Criteria SSCT ID Type Criteria

name Criteria question Re-

sponse options

Requirements Guidance Reference Changes (in)

Governance

A.04 Re-moved

Balanced decision-making in governance

Do the voting procedures of the top decision-making body en-sure that there is a balanced representation of stakeholder interests, where no single inter-est predominates?

No / Yes - Enough information on the voting procedure to be sure that there is a balanced representation of stake-holder interests. The procedure shall also assure that no single in-terest predominates.

Removed for first con-sultation draft

A.10 Re-moved

Mutual recognition agreements

Has the scheme signed a mu-tual recognition agreement with at least one other scheme?

No / Yes - The mutual recognition agree-ment in which the affected parties detail the degree of mutual recog-nition (referring to e.g. harmonized standards content or audit method-ologies)

- Please note: national vis-A-vis interna-tional standards of the same scheme owner are not eligible for a 'Yes'

Removed

for first con-

sultation

draft

Group Certification

C.2.12 Re-moved

Group cer-tification / verifica-tion

Does the scheme allow for group certification or verifi-cation?


--> Only applicable if scheme re-quires audits. This question does not apply to CoC audits. - The scheme explicitly states that group certification or verifi-cation is allowed.

ISEAL Assurance Code 6.5


Traceability

D.1.02 Re-moved

Chain of Custody Model

In terms of the level of traceability, which is the least strict CoC model that the scheme allows?

Certificate Trading / Mass Bal-ance / Segrega-tion / Not applicable

- traceability system described in Chain of Custody manual or methodology

--> only applicable if claims are made regarding the origin of certain ingre-dients or products (CoC is required) - See Glossary for different types of CoC models.

UN Global Com-pact, BSR (2014). A Guide to Traceability



Seite 40

SSCT ID Type Criteria name

Criteria question Re-sponse options

Requirements Guidance Reference Changes (in)

D.2.06 Re-moved

Stepwise claims

Does the scheme require different claims depending on the percentage of certi-fied / verified content in a product?

No / Yes / Not ap-plicable

- A statement in its claims policy that different percentage re-quirements of certified inputs require accurate labelling, re-flecting these differences Not applicable if: - Claim does not refer to prod-uct inputs/single ingredients but to the whole/ final product

ISEAL Claims Guide 2.5.1, 2.1.3

Removed for second consulta-tion draft

D.2.07 Re-moved

Minimum % input claims

What is the minimum per-centage of a certified / veri-fied input in a single ingredi-ent product for a claim to be allowed for that product?

10-49% / 50-100% / not spec-ified / not appli-cable

- A written statement on the minimum percentage require-ments in a single-ingredient product

'No' if: - No evidence of minimum percent-ages even though missing is allowed Not applicable if: - Claim does not refer to product in-puts/single ingredients but to the whole/ final product or if % claims are not included in system



D.2.08 Re-moved

Minimum % compo-site prod-uct claims

What is the minimum per-centage of certified / veri-fied material in a composite product for a claim to be al-lowed for that product?

10-49% / 50-100% / not spec-ified / not appli-cable

- A written statement on the minimum percentage require-ments in a composite product

'No' if: - No evidence of minimum percent-ages even though missing is allowed Not applicable if: - Claim does not refer to product in-puts/single ingredients but to the whole/ final product or if % claims are not included in system




Seite 41

II. ERSTER ENTWURF / FIRST DRAFT


SSCT ID Type Criteria name Criteria question Response op-tions

Requirements Guidance Reference

Governance

A.01 MiK Scheme struc-ture

Does the scheme owner make its organisational structure available, including composition of govern-ance bodies?

Accepted: Yes, publicly Not accepted: Yes (on re-quest) / No

- An overview of the different governance bodies that manage and govern the scheme (i.e. board, advisory board, board of trustees, etc.) and participants of each body.

- This can be in the form of an organizational chart or narrative document.


A.02 MiK Scheme legal status

Is the scheme owner a legal entity, or an organization that is a partner-ship of legal entities, or a govern-ment or inter-governmental agency?


- Information showing the legal status of the organiza-tion, often also listed in publicly available commercial registers (commonly also for non-commercial organi-sations).

ISO/IEC 17067, 6.3.3

A.03 Governance body account-ability

Is there a mechanism by which the top decision-making body is ac-countable to its stakeholders?'

No / Yes - A clear accountability mechanism (e.g. elections with voting members, accountability through deeds of trust, appointment by boards that are in turn elected, stakeholder advisory body)

- Stakeholders in this case mean any parties who are directly or indirectly af-fected by the decisions of the top-decision making body (e.g. producers, con-sumer organizations, mem-bers, etc.).

ISO/IEC 17067, 6.4.5


Seite 42



A.04 Balanced de-cision-making in governance

Do the voting procedures of the top decision-making body ensure that there is a balanced represen-tation of stakeholder interests, where no single interest predomi-nates?

No / Yes - Enough information on the voting procedure to be sure that there is a balanced representation of stake-holder interests. The procedure shall also assure that no single interest predominates.

A.05 MiK & Art. 43

Sources of fi-nance

Does the scheme owner make quantitative information on the in-come sources or financing struc-ture of the scheme available?

Accepted: Yes, publicly Yes (on re-quest) Not accepted: No

- An overview of quantitative information on the in-come sources or financing structure of the scheme (e.g. potentially including type of funding (i.e. financial, assets, manpower, etc), name of funders, amount or %-distribution of income sources).

- This could be provided in the form of an annex to an-nual reports.

ISO 14024 7.4.3, 2014/24/EU Art. 43 (1)

A.06 Quality man-agement

Does the scheme owner have an in-ternal quality management system available?

No / Yes Quality manual or equivalent that includes at least quality objectives, quality policy and methodology for implementing a quality management system

Adapted from ISO 9001

A.07 MiK & Art. 43

Independence of scheme owner from certificate holder

Is the scheme owner economically independent from the certificate holder?


- A policy which governs the independence of the scheme owner or proof that the scheme owner is not economically dependent on one single certificate holder.

ISO 14024 3.7 2014/24/EU Art. 43 (1)


Seite 43



A.08 Sustainability goals and ob-jectives of the scheme

Does the scheme owner have sus-tainability-oriented goals and ob-jectives?

No / Yes - The scheme owner explicitly defines its overall goals and objectives, e.g. the mission and vision, either in its statutes or in a separate statement (e.g. a mission statement) - The goals and objectives are sustainability-oriented, i.e. oriented towards improving environmental and/or socio-economic impacts

Supported by ISO/IEC 17067, 6.3.4

A.09 Strategy to achieve scheme sus-tainability goals

Does the scheme owner have a strategy for meeting its sustainabil-ity-oriented goals and objectives?

No / Yes (on request) / Yes, publicly

- A documented strategy that includes clear goals, ac-tions to achieve the goals, and a description of availa-ble/needed resources to execute the actions.

ISEAL Impacts Code 7.1, 7.2

A.10 Mutual recog-nition agree-ments

Has the scheme signed a mutual recognition agreement with at least one other scheme?

No / Yes - The mutual recognition agreement in which the af-fected parties detail the degree of mutual recognition (referring to e.g. harmonized standards content or au-dit methodologies)

- Please note: national vis-A-vis international stand-ards of the same scheme owner are not eligible for a 'Yes'

Impact

A.11 New MiK

Impact meas-urement

Does the scheme owner have a sys-tem in place for measuring its out-comes and progress towards its sustainability goals?

Accepted: Yes, publicly Yes (on re-quest) Not accepted: No

The proven existence of a monitoring and evaluation system, which contains indicators the scheme owner uses to measure its outputs, outcomes and impacts

- For ISO type I labels, the most relevant impact is usually introduced prior to the development of criteria by conducting a life cycle based impact study. The re-sulting criteria are devel-oped to reduce these im-pacts. The design of this ap-proach therefore also in-cludes the measurement of impact and is eligible for a 'Yes'. In order to receive a ‘Yes’, the reasoning behind

ISEAL Impacts Code 8.1


Seite 44



the conclusions for choos-ing the actual requirements need to be available pub-licly or on request.

A.12 Adaptive management

Does the scheme owner use the re-sults of monitoring and evaluation for learning and improvements to its programme?

No / Yes - The scheme regularly feeds in the results of monitor-ing & evaluation in its internal processes, e.g. records of inclusion on the agenda of meetings, policy for when results are considered


A.13 Reporting monitoring results

Does the scheme owner make sus-tainability results from M&E availa-ble?

No / Yes (on request) / Yes, publicly / Not applicable

A report on the results of the monitoring and evalua-tion, which contains indicators the scheme owner uses to measure its outputs, outcomes and impacts

- For ISO type I labels, the life cycle impact study that is conducted prior to the development of criteria would serve as equivalent to the sustainability results from M&E


Supporting Strategies

A.14 Technical As-sistance and access to fi-nance

Does the scheme implement strat-egies or activities to support im-proved performance of participat-ing enterprises, e.g. capacity build-ing, access to finance?

No / Yes Either of the following: - Technical assistance in the form of e.g. workshops,

trainings, provision of equipment, etc. - A finance mechanism for increasing access possibili-

ties for enterprises seeking certification - Technical assistance beyond compliance such as ac-

tions like providing resources, coordinating confer-ences or other peer learning opportunities, etc.

Examples for finance mech-anism include advance pay-ments to facilitate the pur-chase of produce from the farmers, the existence of a support fund, or the pay-ment of verification/ certifi-cation fees via purchasing companies.


Seite 45


SSCT ID

Type Criteria name Criteria question Response options Requirements Guidance Reference

B.01 MiK & Art. 43

Availability of Standard

Is the standard made available free of charge?

Accepted: Yes, publicly Not accepted: Yes (on request) No

- The standard document / performance measures is freely available for download on the scheme owner's website, incl. all criteria and accompanying documents to support con-sistent interpretation. All corresponding ac-companying documents shall also be freely available.

Choose 'No' also if available only for members or for a fee

ISEAL Std-Set-ting Code 5.7.1 ISO 14024 7.4.3 2014/24/EU Art. 43 (1)

B.02 Art. 43 Key Issues Has a set of key sustaina-bility issues in the sector or product lifecycle been defined in the standard-setting process?

No / Yes A list or summary of evidence that identifies key sustainability issues within the scope of the standard. The standard document includes re-quirements addressing the identified issues In order for this question to be answered with a 'Yes', the provided information shall match the areas that the scheme owner addresses in the standard. There shall be evidence that the infor-mation is used for the standard-setting process. This can be for example in the form of a research chapter in one of the standard setting docu-ments.

- Evidence can include re-search studies and reports (e.g. governmental reports, university studies and publi-cations, NGO reports) that legitimize the identified key issues - For ISO Type I ecolabels: Key areas of environmental impacts have been identi-fied through research meth-ods (e.g. LCA studies or equivalent) that are robust and accurate enough to sup-port environmental claims and that lead to exact and reproducible results



Seite 46

SSCT ID


B.03 MiK & Art. 43

Standard-setting pro-cess

Are the standard-setting procedures or a public summary of how stake-holders can engage made available?


Either of the following: standard-setting proce-dures or public summary of how stakeholders can engage

- In order for this criterion to be answered with a 'Yes, publicly', there shall be evi-dence that the scheme owner publicly announces each consultation period on its website


B.04 MiK & Art. 43

Public con-sultation of standard

Which stakeholders can participate in the stand-ard-setting process?

Accepted: All stakeholders Not accepted: Members only / Invitation only

- Statement in standard-setting procedure that lists who should be consulted - This can be supplemented by records of who participated in most recent standard-setting pro-cess

- Members only: If it is a member organization and only members can consult - Invitation only: If the scheme selects stakeholders to be invited for consulta-tion - All stakeholders: Open to any interested stakeholder

For ISO Type I: ISO 14024 6.2., ISEAL Std-Setting Code 5.4.2, 2014/24/EU Art. 43 (1)

B.05 Art. 43 Consultation with directly affected stakeholders

Are stakeholders who are directly affected by the standard provided opportunities to partici-pate in standard setting?

No / Yes - Identification and documentation of which stakeholders are directly affected - Records of activities to proactively reach out to these stakeholders and encourage their partici-pation in standard setting

ISEAL Stand-ard-Setting Code 5.4.4 For ISO Type I: ISO 14024 5.9. and 6.2., 2014/24/EU Art. 43 (1)

B.06 Pilot testing Are draft standards field tested / piloted for rele-vance and auditability through the develop-ment and revision pro-cesses?


- Documented evidence (i.e. field test reports) that this is being done

→ not applicable for schemes that develop differ-ent product standards based on a life-cycle and multi-cri-teria approach (ISO type I la-bels)


Seite 47

SSCT ID


B.07 MiK & Art. 43

Stakeholder feedback

Does the scheme owner provide information on how the input received from consultations has been included in the fi-nal version of the stand-ard?

Accepted: Yes, publicly Yes (on request) Not accepted: No

- Documentation of collected feedback from pre-vious public consultations - Statement on how the collected feedback was used for the setting or revision of the Standard

ISEAL Std-Set-ting Code 5.4.5, 2014/24/EU Art. 43 (1)

B.08 Stakeholder representa-tion in standards decisions

Do the voting proce-dures of the decision-making body responsible for standard setting en-sure that there is a bal-anced representation of stakeholder interests?

No / Yes - Documented information on the voting proce-dure of the highest decision-making body respon-sible for the standard setting process specifies that all categories of stakeholders are repre-sented. The procedure shall also ensure that a stakeholder category is not able to dominate de-cision-making


B.09 MiK & Art. 43

Standard Re-view



- A statement that details the frequency of re-view and revision of the applicable standards, with a frequency of no more than five years.

-This information is most likely included in the stand-ard-setting procedure.

For ISO Type I: ISO 14024 5.8.2. ISO Guide 59, 4.6 ISEAL Std-Set-ting Code 5.8.1 2014/24/EU Art. 43 (1)

B.10 MiK & Art. 43

Consistent interpreta-tion

Does the scheme ensure that guidance is in place to support consistent in-terpretation of the standard?


- The standard and/or separate guidance docu-ments for interpretation shall include sufficient detail so that each individual criterion can be as-sessed consistently. - The standard and/or guidance documents shall specify necessary evidence for each criterion.

- ISO 14024, clause 6.4 pro-vides rules for developing ISO Type 1 environmental product criteria.

ISEAL Std-Set-ting Code 6.3.1, 6.3.2, 2014/24/EU Art. 43 (1), ISO 14024 6.4


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SSCT ID


B.11 Interpreta-tion to re-gional con-text

Are there procedures and guidance for appli-cation or interpretation of the standard to re-gional contexts?


Any one of the following: - Information in the standard or interpretive guidance about how each of the requirements can be interpreted for application at a local level - Procedure for development of a local adapta-tion of the standard including stakeholder con-sultation measures. - The standard organization has country-specific standards

→ not applicable for schemes that develop differ-ent product standards based on a life-cycle and multi-cri-teria approach (ISO type I la-bels) In case of ISO Type I labels or other process-based standards this is 'not appli-cable', as its approach does not allow for the recognition of local contexts.

ISEAL Std-Set-ting Code 6.4 ISO Guide 59

B.12 Complaints mechanism

Does the scheme owner have a complaints mech-anism for the standard-setting process?

No Yes (on request) Yes, publicly

- A written statement which shall contain the fol-lowing information: - Clear steps and responsibilities to resolve the complaint - In what form and to whom a complaint about the standard-setting process needs to be submit-ted to


Seite 49


SSCT ID Type Criteria name Criteria question Response options Requirements Guidance Reference

C.1 – Assurance System

C.1.01 MiK Assessment methodology

Is there a docu-mented assessment methodology for as-surance providers to assess compliance with the standard?


- A documented methodology de-scribing requirements for assur-ance providers and the assessment procedures (e.g. audit procedures or testing and verification meth-ods) taking into account the com-plexity and risk of a client, defines an assessment and sampling proto-col, and which is commensurate with the claims being made by the scheme and by clients

The assessment methodology shall in-clude procedures for at least the follow-ing activities: • Assessment of conformance with the standard; • Review and decision; • Issuance of a certificate, where this is part of the scheme; • Periodic re-assessment. For each type of assessment used, the scheme owner shall specify require-ments for conducting the assessment that includes at least the following: • frequency and intensity of assessment; • sampling protocol for assessment; • knowledge and skills required in an au-ditor or assessment team (if assessment team is used); • minimum set of issues that need to be checked in every assessment; • a means of calculating the time needed for an assessment; • sources of evidence to be assessed; • minimum content of assessment

ISO/IEC 17067 ISEAL As-surance Code 5.1.2 GENICES Schedule A2 4.3 (5)


Seite 50


reports; and • timelines for submission of completed reports, following assessments.

C.1.02 Art. 43 Scheme open-ness

Is application (to get certified/verified) open to all potential applicants within the scope of the scheme?

No / Yes - A policy which assures that every potential applicant can get certi-fied/verified/become a member, as long as it is within the scope of the scheme (i.e. in a country where the scheme operates, a product group which the standard covers, etc.).

ISO 14024 5.13. 2014/24/EU Art. 43 (1) GENICES Schedule A2, 6 ISEAL 6.2.1

C.1.03 Assessment fees

Does the scheme owner require CABs to provide infor-mation on assess-ment fees?

No / Yes, availa-ble on request / Yes, publicly available

CABs are required to provide infor-mation and update clients about the fees for application, initial cer-tification and continuing certifica-tion free of charge either upon re-quest or publicly available.

The scheme owner defines this require-ment in certification require-ments/methodologies, or in the con-tract/agreement between the scheme owner and the AB, or in a separate ac-creditation manual.

ISO/IEC 17021-1, 8.5.1 c) ISEAL As-surance Code 6.3.1 GENICES Schedule A2, 4.3 (6) & 9


Seite 51


C.1.04 Art. 43 Fee levels Are levels of all costs and fees incurred by applicants and certifi-cate holders/licen-sees based on pro-gramme costs and kept as low as possi-ble?

No / Yes - All initial und recurring fees are listed and made available (on re-quest or on the website) and these are justified and reasonable. - The scheme owner can justify that the level of all fees is calculated so as to cover necessary operational costs only.

- Costs and fees include assessment and testing fees and any recurring costs re-quired to obtain and maintain a certifi-cate or license, such as application fees, certificate fees, administrative fees etc.


C.1.05 MiK CAB com-plaints and appeals mech-anism

Does the scheme owner require CABs to have a docu-mented complaints and appeals mecha-nism in place to sub-mit appeals or com-plaints about compli-ance decisions?


The complaints resolution proce-dure defines: - clear steps, timelines and respon-sibilities to resolve the complaint - in what form and to whom a com-plaint needs to be submitted

Appeals are about "compliance deci-sions" (certificate holder appealing CAB), complaints are broader and can include complaints about a certificate holder by external parties, or also complaints about a CAB.

ISO/IEC 17021-1 9.8 ISO/IEC 17065 7.13 ISEAL As-surance Code 6.7.3 GENICES Schedule A2, 4.3 (4)

C.1.15 New cri-terion

Accessibility of complaint and appeals mech-anism

Does the scheme owner require CABs to make complaints mechanism easily ac-cessible?

No/ Yes information on how to submit com-plaints or appeals must be easily to find and be available in relevant languages but at least in English.

ISO 10001


Report on complaints

Does the scheme owner require CABs to report on com-plaints received and

No / Yes


Seite 52


on the actions taken to resolve the issue.

C.1.06 Art. 43 Assessment reports availa-bility

Does the scheme owner make, or re-quire CABs to make, summary of certifica-tion/verification re-ports (with personal and commercially sensitive information removed) available?

No / Yes (on re-quest) / Yes, publicly

- The scheme owner defines this requirement in certification re-quirements/methodologies, or in the contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the assur-ance provider, or in a separate ac-creditation manual. The report should be made available in a UN and local language. - For schemes where assessment reports are not publicly available online, request a summary reports from CAB to verify availability - If assessment reports cannot be shared by the scheme or by CABs due to confidentiality, chose "no, confidential" - If no assessment reports are writ-ten at all, choose "no, no reports"

Note: For ISO Type I labelling pro-grammes, the equivalent requirement is transparency on (nonconfidential) "evi-dence on which the awarding of the la-bel is based" (see ISO 14024 clause 5.11).

ISEAL As-surance Code 6.1.1 (optional good prac-tice) ISO 14024 5.11 2014/24/EU Art. 43 (1)


Data Manage-ment for scheme own-ers

Does the scheme owner maintain an information manage-ment system?

No / Yes The scheme owner shall maintain an information management sys-tem that supports gathering, man-agement and analysis of relevant data from internal and external sources. This includes compliance

The information management system can be used to inform risk management, assurance system learning, and monitor-ing and evaluation.

ISEAL As-surance Code 4.4.2


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data from assurance providers and oversight bodies.

C.1.07 new MiK Duration of certificate / li-cense

Does the certificate or license define the scope of assurance and duration for which it is valid?


The scheme owner defines guid-ance specifying that scope and du-ration of validity be included on certificates or licenses

- For membership-based initiatives with-out certification schemes, membership duration counts as equivalent, as long as the contract implies that standard rules must apply at all times.

ISO/IEC 17021-1 8.2.2 ISO/IEC 17065 7.7.1 ISEAL As-surance Code 6.3.1

C.1.09 Certified or verified enter-prise / la-belled product list

Does the scheme owner maintain or require CABs to maintain a publicly accessible list of cer-tified or verified en-terprises, or a list of verified prod-ucts/product groups, or a list of members (in case of member-ship-based initia-tives)?

No / Yes / Yes, incl. scope of certificate or li-cense

A system to show the certified/ verified enterprises OR the enter-prises producing certified/ verified products is publicly available (for example in a database or by up-loaded lists).

ISO/IEC 17021-1 8.3 and ISEAL As-surance Code 6.3.1 GENICES Schedule A2, 4.5


Seite 54


C.1.10 MiK Accred-ited/approved CABs

Does the scheme owner maintain a list of all accredited/ap-proved CABs?


- A system to list all CABs accepted by the scheme or accredited by re-spective ABs is available, up-to-date and complete. This list could also be available on accepted AB websites.


C.1.11 Frequency of assurance sys-tem review

Does the scheme owner review the ef-fectiveness of their assurance system on a periodic basis?

No / Yes - Scheme owner has internal man-agement system procedures that include periodic review of how well the assurance system is being im-plemented. This includes defining what data the scheme owner col-lects to inform that review - Evidence can also include reports from assurance system reviews

The scheme owner can outsource this responsibility to accreditation bodies that operate its conformity assessment

ISO 17067 6.6 ISEAL As-surance Code 4.1.1, 4.2.1, 4.4.2., 4.5.2 and 5.4.1

C.1.12 Notification of assurance sys-tem changes

Does the scheme owner require that clients and other af-fected stakeholders are notified of changes to the assur-ance requirements?

No / Yes - There shall be evidence that af-fected stakeholders are notified by changes to the scheme's assurance system in a timely manner, for ex-ample by checking notifications af-ter previous assurance system changes.

ISO 17067 6.6.2 ISEAL As-surance Code 5.2.5, 6.3.3

C.1.13 Continuous improvement requirements

Does the scheme re-quests performance improvements over time to maintain cer-tification if needed?

No / Yes - The scheme owner defines this requirement in certification re-quirements/methodologies, or in the contract/agreement between The scheme owner and The AB, or in a separate accreditation manual.

Some schemes may offer "partial certifi-cation", some may use the more tradi-tional approach of raising non-conformi-ties that have to be closed within a spec-ified timeframe, others may define dif-ferent performance levels, etc.


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C.1.14 Chain of Cus-tody: CoC As-sessment methodology

Does the scheme owner have a docu-mented assessment methodology for CABs that are as-sessing chain of cus-tody?

No / Yes, availa-ble on request / Yes, publicly available / Not applicable

- A documented methodology de-scribing requirements for CABs and the assessment procedures of en-terprises that handle or trade prod-uct along the supply chain (e.g. Chain of custody certification re-quirements/methodologies)

Only applicable if claims are made re-garding the origin of certain ingredients or products (CoC is required)

ISO/IEC 17067

C.2 – Conformity Assessment


C.2.02 MiK Level of con-formity as-sessment

What is the most in-dependent type of conformity assess-ment required by the scheme?

Accepted: 3rd party Not accepted: No 1st party / 2nd party

- The scheme owner defines this requirement in certification re-quirements/methodologies, or in the contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the AB, or in a separate accreditation manual.

- 1st party is a self-assessment; 2nd party is by an interested stakeholder, e.g. an industry association; 3rd party is independent from the client. Some schemes may provide for different levels of conformity assessments (e.g. a self-assessment followed by a third-party au-dit), therefore the most independent level is the determining factor, regard-less of when the audit takes place.


C.2.04 new MiK Consistent de-cision-making on compliance

Does the scheme owner define guide-lines for decision-making to ensure that CABs use con-sistent procedures for determining com-pliance of clients with the standard?


- CABs must be required to have documented procedures for deter-mining compliance of clients with the standard - CABs must record each certifica-tion decision - CABs must have a documented process to conduct an effective re-view prior to taking compliance

The scheme owner defines this require-ment in certification require-ments/methodologies, or in the con-tract/agreement between the scheme owner and the oversight, or in a sepa-rate accreditation manual

ISEAL As-surance Code 6.4.9 ISO 14024 5.10 & 7.2.2 GENICES Schedule A2 4.3 (2)


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decisions - The CAB must take account of at least the following information in taking compliance decisions: a) the audit report / document re-view b) where relevant, details on non-conformities and, where applica-ble, the corrections and corrective actions taken by the client c) a recommendation whether or not compliance is achieved, to-gether with any conditions or ob-servations.

& (3) ISEAL 5.1.8 and ISO 17065 7.6 and ISO 17021 9.5

C.2.05 MiK Procedure on remediation

Does the scheme owner require CABs to have a procedure in place for how cli-ents are required to address non-con-formities, including when a certificate or license is suspended or revoked?


- The procedure specifies how dif-ferent degrees of non-conformity (if applicable) are to be addressed and remediated, in order to sup-port consistency between CABs. - The procedure also specifies the conditions under which certifica-tion / the license may be sus-pended or withdrawn, partially or in total, for all or part of the scope of certification / the license. - The scheme owner has a guidance specifying different gradations of non-conformities (if applicable) and how to determine them,

The scheme owner defines this require-ment in certification require-ments/methodologies, or in the con-tract/agreement between the scheme owner and the oversight body, or in a separate accreditation manual

ISEAL As-surance Code 6.4.10 ISO/IEC 17065 7.11 ISO/IEC 17021-1 9.6 GENICES Schedule A2, 4.3 (2) & (3)


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verifying corrective actions arising from non-compliances and allow-ing for appeals of non-compliances, in order to support consistency be-tween CABs.


C.2.01 ISO Compli-ance for certi-fication/verifi-cation

Does the scheme owner require CABs to be accredited to ISO/IEC 17065, ISO/IEC 17021, ISO/IEC 17020 or equivalent with a rel-evant scope, or alter-natively to be compli-ant with the ISEAL Assurance Code?


- Accreditation must have been granted by an Accreditation Body that is a member of the Interna-tional Accreditation Forum (IAF) - For ISEAL compliance: CABs must be required to either be a Code-compliant member of ISEAL or to be otherwise in a position to pro-vide evidence of full Code-compli-ance - Where the scheme owner accepts ISO accreditation of CABs, they shall require that the CABs share the results of internal audits and any remediation with the scheme owner. - The scheme owner defines this requirement in certification re-quirements/methodologies, or in the contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the AB, or in a separate accreditation manual




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C.2.03 Audit fre-quency

Does the scheme owner require that clients are audited on a regular, recurring basis?

No/ Yes - The scheme owner defines this requirement in certification re-quirements/methodologies, or in the contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the AB, or in a separate accreditation manual

Only applicable if the scheme requires audits. - This question refers to external audits. In a full audit process, all requirements of the standard and the whole system of the client that is to be assessed are veri-fied. This would usually include re-certi-fication audits but not necessarily sur-veillance audits in case these are less rig-orous. In the response, state the least possible frequency, i.e. if an interval can be skipped for certain clients, e.g. based on a risk assessment, the frequency shall be reduced (see also criterion on risk-based audit frequency)

ISO 17067 5.3.8 ISO 17065 7.9.3/4 ISEAL As-surance Code 5.1.2

C.2.06 Risk-based au-dit frequency

Is the frequency or intensity of an audit based in part on a risk assessment of the client?

- No / Yes / Not applicable

- documented risk management protocol detailing how the scheme assesses risk of clients or assurance providers and how it adapts the frequency or intensity of audits based on that risk as-sessment.

- the scheme owner shall require its use by assurance providers and oversight bodies respectively

Only applicable if the scheme requires audits. This question does not apply to CoC audits. Risk-based audits make the whole certi-fication process more efficient and po-tentially less costly.



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C.2.07 Audit activi-ties

Does the scheme owner specify the re-quired intensity for each type of audit and the activities that must be carried out by CABs?

No / Yes / not applicable

Guidance to CABs on the types of activities required to be included in a full audit. Activities might be: Document re-view (off-site) only / Document re-view on-site / Field visit (incl. office visit & doc. review) / Off-site inter-views with clients / Remote sensing / Stakeholder engagement

Only applicable if the scheme requires audits. Intensity refers to how long an audit should take, how many interviews should occur, how many sites should be investigated, how many samples should be taken, how many issues must be checked for each type of audit. 'Field visit can include any activity that assesses the implementation of prac-tices as opposed to the existence of pro-cedures


C.2.08 Unscheduled audits

Does the scheme owner allow or re-quire CABs to do un-scheduled audits?

Not allowed / Allowed / Re-quired / Not ap-plicable

-The scheme owner defines this re-quirement in certification require-ments/methodologies, or in the contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the AB, or in a separate accreditation manual


ISO 17021 9.6.4.2 ISEAL As-surance Code 6.7.1

C.2.09 Stakeholder participation in audit

Are auditors required to solicit external stakeholder input during the audit pro-cess?


- The scheme owner defines this requirement in certification re-quirements/methodologies, or in the contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the AB, or in a separate accreditation manual. There should be explicit reference that the scheme requires auditors to proactively solicit external

Only applicable if the scheme requires audits. This question does not apply to CoC audits.



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stakeholder input during the audit process and to show how they took comments into account.

C.2.10 Audit / evalua-tion report format

Does the scheme owner require CABs to follow a consistent report format?


- The scheme owner defines this requirement in certification re-quirements / methodologies, or in the contract / agreement between the scheme owner and the AB, or in a separate accreditation manual - The scheme owner should have a guidance specifying formats for au-dit reports and reporting, in order to support consistency between CABs. Alternatively to a guidance on audit report formats, manda-tory templates may be provided, however, guidance on reporting should still be available.

Only applicable if the scheme requires audits. - the report should include section on explanations of auditors or assessors de-cisions for determining conformity with requirements and for their choice of samples taken during the audit.

ISEAL As-surance Code 5.1.2 ISO/IEC 17021-1 9.4.8 ISO/IEC 17065 7.7

C.2.11 Decision-mak-ing independ-ence

Are the people mak-ing the compliance decision different from those engaged in the audit process?


- The persons or committees taking compliance decisions must be dif-ferent from those who carried out the compliance assessments and must have appropriate compe-tence. - The scheme owner defines this requirement in certification re-quirements/methodologies, or in


ISO/IEC 17065 4.2 and 5.2 and ISO 17021 9.5, ISEAL As-surance Code 5.2.3


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the contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the AB, or in a separate accreditation manual

Group Certification

C.2.13 Group internal management system

Is the group required to have a shared management system with clear responsi-bilities for implemen-tation of the system?


- The scheme owner defines this requirement in the group certifica-tion or verification require-ments/methodologies, or in the contract/ agreement between the scheme owner and the AB or in a separate accreditation manual.



C.2.14 Group internal verification

Is there a require-ment for the group manager(s) or the au-ditors (or assessors) to visit all group sites at least once during the period of certifi-cate validity?


- The scheme owner defines this requirement in the group certifica-tion or verification require-ments/methodologies, or in the contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the AB or in a separate accreditation manual.



C.2.15 Group exter-nal sample size

Is there a sample size formula and sam-pling approach to de-termine the number of group members that is externally veri-fied and how the sample is chosen?

No / Yes / Yes based on risk assessment / Not applicable





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C.2.16 Non-compli-ant group members

Do the requirements on group certifica-tion/verification de-fine the conditions under which a group member shall be sus-pended or removed from a group?





Chain of Custody

C.2.17 Chain of Cus-tody: ISO Compliance for CoC certifi-cation

Does the scheme owner require CoC CABs to be accred-ited with ISO/IEC 17020, ISO/IEC 17021, or ISO/IEC 17065 or equivalent with a relevant scope, or alterna-tively to be compliant with the ISEAL Assur-ance Code?


- Accreditation must have been granted by an Accreditation Body that is a member of the Interna-tional Accreditation Forum (IAF) - For ISEAL compliance: CoC CABs must be required to either be a Code-compliant member of ISEAL or to be otherwise in a position to provide evidence of full Code-com-pliance - The scheme owner defines this requirement in Chain of custody certification or traceability require-ments/methodologies, or in the contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the AB, or in a separate accreditation manual

Only applicable if claims are made re-garding the origin of or certain ingredi-ents or products (CoC is required)



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C.2.18 Chain of Cus-tody: Level of CoC conform-ity assessment

Does the scheme owner require that the CoC conformity assessment is con-ducted by an inde-pendent third party?

yes / no / Not applicable

- The scheme owner defines this requirement in Chain of custody certification or traceability require-ments/methodologies, or in the contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the AB, or in a separate accreditation manual

Only applicable if claims are made re-garding the origin of or certain ingredi-ents or products (CoC is required) 1st party is a self-assessment; 2nd party is by an interested stakeholder, e.g. an industry association; 3rd party is inde-pendent of the client. Some schemes may provide for different levels of con-formity assessments (e.g. a self-assess-ment followed by a third-party audit), therefore the most independent level is determining.

C.2.19 Chain of Cus-tody: CoC au-dit activities

Does the scheme owner specify the re-quired intensity for each type of audit and the activities that must be carried out by CoC CABs?


- The scheme owner defines this requirement in Chain of custody certification or traceability require-ments/methodologies, or in the contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the AB, or in a separate accreditation manual Activities might be: Document re-view (off-site) only / Document re-view on-site / Field visit (incl. office visit & doc. review) / Off-site inter-views with clients / Remote sensing / Stakeholder engagement

--> only applicable if claims are made re-garding the origin of certain ingredients or products (CoC is required) In a full CoC assessment or audit, all re-quirements of the CoC standard and the whole system of the client that is to be assessed are audited. This would usually include re-certification audits but not necessarily surveillance audits/assess-ments in case these are less intense. 'Intensity refers to how long an audit should take, how many interviews should occur, how many sites should be investigated, how many samples should



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be taken, how many issues must be checked for each type of audit. 'Field visit can include any activity that assesses the implementation of prac-tices as opposed to the existence of pro-cedures

C.2.20 Chain of Cus-tody: Physical handling

Does the scheme owner require all en-terprises that are physically handling the certified product to undergo a CoC au-dit if the product can be destined for retail sale as a certified, la-belled product?


- This shall be in the form of a writ-ten requirement as part of the cer-tification requirements. Possibly review scope of certifi-cates, if available online.

Only applicable if CoC is required

Laboratory Testing

C.2.21 Laboratory testing: Infor-mation on test methods

In the documented assessment method-ology, are test meth-ods either referred to or included?

No Yes (on request) Yes, publicly Not applicable

- The required test methods need to be referred to or provided in the Standard document or in other cor-responding documents.

Only applicable if scheme requires labor-atory testing

GENICES Schedule A2, 4.13 (2) ISO 17025

C.2.22 Laboratory testing: Labor-atory accredi-tation

Does the scheme owner require labor-atories to be accred-ited according to rec-ognized laboratory

No / Yes, to ISO 17025 / Yes, to other recog-nized standards / Not applicable

Only applicable if scheme requires labor-atory testing - Besides ISO/IEC 17025 (General re-quirements for the competence of test-ing and calibration laboratories),

ISO 17065: 6.2.2.1 ISO 17025


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accreditation stand-ards?

recognized standards are ISO 15189 (Medical laboratories - Particular re-quirements for quality and compe-tence), OECD Principle of GLP (Good La-boratory Practice) or equivalent national standards.

C.2.23 Laboratory testing: Sur-veillance lab testing of products

Are there rules on random sampling and testing for the com-pliance monitoring?


- Written evidence is required by the scheme owner that includes rules on random sampling and test-ing of the (final) products. OR - Written evidence is required by the scheme owner that includes rules on random sampling and test-ing of samples collected in the field e.g. soil or waste water samples.



C.2.24 Laboratory testing: Non-compliant products

Is there a procedure to deal with non-compliant products manufactured by a client / licensee?


- Written evidence is required by the scheme owner that includes a defined procedure to deal with non-compliance



C.3 – Auditor /Assessor Competencies

C.3.01 new MiK Personnel competencies

Does the scheme owner define specific qualifications and competencies for as-sessors /CAB audi-tors?


-The scheme owner has specified qualifications and competence cri-teria for assessors / CABs or re-quires that CABs have. (check that CABs have this in place) - qualifications and competencies

ISO /IEC 17021-1 7.1. & 7.2 ISO/IEC 17065 6.1 ISEAL


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set minimum requirements for as-sessor / auditor training and audit-ing experience in the sector cov-ered by the standard.

Assurance Code 5.5.1

C.3.02 new MiK Assessor standards training

Does the scheme owner require that assessors / CAB audi-tors successfully complete training on the standard and its interpretation?

Accepted: Yes, training by scheme owner or approved training provider / Yes, by the CAB Not accepted: No

- The scheme owner defines this requirement in certification re-quirements/methodologies, or in the contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the AB, or in a separate accreditation manual - The scheme owner has a guidance specifying the training system and content in order to support con-sistency between Assessors / CABs.


C.3.03 Auditing skills training

Does the scheme owner require that CAB auditors success-fully complete audi-tor training on a standard that is rele-vant to the scheme and that is based on ISO 19011, or equiva-lent?


- The scheme owner defines this requirement in the contract/agree-ment between the scheme owner and the CAB, in a separate accredi-tation manual or for example in certification requirements/meth-odologies.

Only applicable if scheme requires au-dits

ISO 19011


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C.3.05 Regular asses-sor evaluation

Does the scheme owner require that CABs implement a programme to moni-tor and ensure the continued compe-tence and good per-formance of asses-sors / auditors?

No / Yes '- The scheme owner defines this requirement in certification re-quirements/methodologies, or in the contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the AB, or in a separate accreditation manual - The CAB has programme to moni-tor competence and performance of auditors.

Examples for evaluation methods to check competence and performance are: Review of records, feedback, inter-views, observations, examinations

ISO/IEC 17065 7.1.3 ISO/IEC 17021-1 7.1.3 ISEAL 5.5.1 and 5.5.2 ISO 17021, An-nex B

C.3.07 Personnel sus-pension

Does the scheme owner require that CABs have a Code of Conduct, or equiva-lent, and supporting procedures to guide behaviour and ac-tions of CAB person-nel and to address misconduct?

No / Yes - The scheme owner defines this requirement in certification re-quirements/methodologies, or in the contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the AB, or in a separate accreditation manual


Assessors Cali-bration

Does the scheme owner carry out or require CABs to carry out calibration activi-ties to ensure that assessors /auditors are aligned?

No / Calibration ac-tivities are car-ried out on an ad hoc basis / There is a de-fined calibration programme

'A calibration programme should entail: - Monitoring and comparison of as-sessors’ performance - Schedule of calibration activities - Calibration formats

Calibration refers to activities that are undertaken to ensure that all assessors / auditors have the same understanding of a programme's requirements. Monitoring and comparison of assessors / auditor performance: This is to under-stand where and when calibration is

ISEAL 5.5.3


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needed and should be based on various types of information sources, such as as-sessment reports, witness audits, feed-back from clients, review of received complaints and appeals. Schedule of calibration activities: This should include calibration activities at pre-defined events, e.g. when scheme requirements change or when CAB pro-cesses change, when results from audi-tor monitoring have been processed. It should also include regular check-ins with assessors / auditors and ad hoc cali-bration events as needed. Calibration formats: This should encom-pass different types of calibration activi-ties, e.g. classroom lectures / webinars, auditor roundtables, case studies and exercises, tests

C.4 - Oversight

C.4.01 New Mik oversight mechanism

Does the scheme re-quire an oversight mechanism and has defined how over-sight is to be con-ducted?

Accepted: The scheme in-corporates basic elements of oversight / scheme owner requires

The scheme owner documents this requirement in a contract/agree-ment between the scheme owner and an accreditation or oversight body, in a separate accreditation manual or for example in certifica-tion requirements/methodologies.

The response option "Basic elements of oversight" should be selected where a scheme does not have a defined over-sight programme that determines the frequency and type of oversight activi-ties, responsibilities for different over-sight functions, procedures to be

ISO/IEC 17011 ISEAL As-surance Code 5.4.1


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application of ISO 17011 Not accepted: No

followed in oversight, reporting require-ments back to the scheme owner, and mechanisms to take account of insights gathered from oversight. Basic oversight could mean, for example, that the scheme owner requires that audit re-ports are reviewed on an ad hoc basis rather than on a regular and planned ba-sis, or that auditor competence is veri-fied through document review rather than through in-person observations.

C.4.03 Independence of oversight

How independent is the provision of over-sight?

No / Oversight is carried out by CABs or scheme owner/ Over-sight is carried out by a third party

- if oversight is carried out by an ac-creditation body (AB), the AB and the conformity assessment body (CAB) must be separate legal enti-ties.

ISO 17011, 2017, 4.4

C.4.04 Oversight in-tensity

Does the scheme de-fine the intensity of oversight activities on CABs?

No / little rules on oversight in-tensity / comprehensive rules for defin-ing oversight in-tensity

- The scheme owner defines this requirement in the contract/agree-ment between the scheme owner and the oversight body, in a sepa-rate accreditation manual or for ex-ample in certification require-ments/methodologies.

Intensity refers to e.g. the kinds of over-sight activities to be carried out, how long an oversight assessment should be, how many interviews should occur, how many sites should be investigated, how many samples should be taken, how many issues must be checked for each type of activity


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C.4.05 Risk-based oversight in-tensity

Does the intensity of oversight activities take account of risk factors associated with the CAB and their personnel?

No / Yes There shall be evidence of how the scheme requires risk to be assessed and how it accordingly allocates identified assessment needs. Tak-ing account of risk can also help fo-cus oversight on issues that need attention

- Risk-based accreditation or oversight assessment make the whole accredita-tion/oversight process more efficient and less costly.

ISO 17011, 2017, 7.4.6 and 7.9.3 and 7.10.1

C.4.06 CAB applica-tion re-strictions

Does the scheme owner ensure that all CABs that meet the scheme require-ments are free to ap-ply to operate under the scheme, irrespec-tive of their country of residence, size and of the existing num-ber of providers al-ready operating un-der the scheme?

No / Yes - The application and selection pro-cess is sufficiently defined by the scheme owner in contracts/agree-ments, in referenced policies or certification requirements/meth-odologies to require that selection of CABs is only by reference to the scope (or issues relating to open fi-nancial payments or incomplete application submissions). - The application process/forms of the oversight body should be online and can be verified.

ISO 17011, 2017, 4.4.10

C.4.07 Proxy accredi-tation/over-sight

Does the scheme owner assess scheme-specific com-petence when ac-cepting CABs that are accredited to other relevant standards (proxy accredita-tion)?

No / Yes - The scheme owner specifies this requirement in a contract/agree-ment between the scheme owner and an oversight body, in a sepa-rate accreditation manual or for ex-ample in certification require-ments/methodologies.

The response option "Yes" means that schemes only accept CABs that are ac-credited to similar or generic scopes only if they assess beforehand their scheme-specific competence, i.e. whether they have the competence re-quired to do conformity assessment re-lated to the scheme's standard(s).



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C.4.08 Oversight body com-plaints and appeals mech-anism

Does the scheme have or require over-sight bodies to have documented and ac-cessible complaints and appeals mecha-nisms?

No / Yes The complaints resolution mecha-nism procedures define: - clear steps, timelines and respon-sibilities to resolve the complaint - in what form and to whom a com-plaint needs to be submitted to

ISO 17011, 2017, 7.12 and 7.13

C.4.09 Procedure on oversight re-mediation

Does the scheme owner define or re-quest that oversight bodies define how CABs have to address non-conformities raised through over-sight?

No / Yes - The scheme owner specifies this requirement in a contract/agree-ment between the scheme owner and oversight body, in a separate accreditation manual or for exam-ple in certification require-ments/methodologies. - The oversight body has a guid-ance and timeline specifying how different gradations of non-con-formity are to be addressed and re-mediated. The requirements or guidance also specify the condi-tions under which accreditation may be suspended or withdrawn, partially or in total, for all or part of the scope of accreditation.

ISO 17011, 2017, 7.6.8 and 7.6.9

C.4.10 Oversight re-ports availabil-ity

Does the scheme owner require that summaries of over-sight reports (with personal and


- The scheme owner specifies this requirement in a contract/agree-ment between the scheme owner and an oversight body, in a sepa-rate accreditation manual or for

ISO 17011, 2017, 8.2.2


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commercially sensi-tive information re-moved) are made publicly available?

example in certification require-ments/methodologies. - For schemes where assessment reports are not publicly available online, request summary reports from oversight body to verify avail-ability.

C.4.11 On-site over-sight assess-ment

Does the scheme owner require that on-site assessments of CABs are included in the oversight cy-cle?

No / Yes - The scheme owner defines this requirement in the contract/agree-ment between the scheme owner and the oversight body, in a sepa-rate accreditation manual or for ex-ample in certification require-ments/methodologies.

ISO 17011, 2017, 7.6.2

C.4.12 Oversight wit-ness audit

Does the scheme owner require that oversight includes CAB performance re-views in the field?

No / Yes - The scheme owner specifies this requirement in a contract/agree-ment between the scheme owner and an oversight body, in a sepa-rate accreditation manual or for ex-ample in certification require-ments/methodologies.

-Only applicable if the scheme requires audits

ISO 17011, 2017, 4.2 and 7.4.7


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SSCT ID

Type Criteria name Criteria question Response op-tions


D.1. - Traceability

D.1.01 Chain of Custody standard / Traceabil-ity requirements

Does the scheme owner have a docu-mented Chain of Cus-tody standard or other traceability require-ments?

No Yes, on request Yes, publicly Not applicable

Either of the following: - A CoC standard document which provides a description of its chain of custody approach - A description of other measures for ensuring that certain infor-mation on ingredients/products are passed through the supply chain e.g. data sheets of chemicals or cer-tificates from used inputs

UN Global Com-pact, BSR (2014). A Guide to Trace-ability

D.1.03 Mixing of inputs Are there any CoC re-quirements for non-certified material, in case mixing of certi-fied with uncertified inputs is allowed?


- A description of how it traces back the origin of uncertified material

If there is no evidence of a written statement, this shall be a 'No'. 'Not applicable' if: - Statement telling that it does not allow the mixing of its cer-tified with uncertified ingredi-ents. - It is a product label (ISO type I label, e.g. Blue Angel)


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SSCT ID



D.1.04 Records for tracea-bility

Does the scheme owner require CABs to verify that all enter-prises within the chain maintain accurate and accessible records that allow any certi-fied product or batch of products to be traceable from the point of sale to the buyer?


- A statement in which it requires CABs to verify that all suppliers maintain documentation of pur-chases (incl. supplier's name and address, date of purchase, quantity and product type, certificate code), and sales (incl. buyer's name and address, date of sale, quantity and product type, certificate code)

only applicable if claims are made regarding the origin of certain ingredients or products (CoC is required) This information can normally be found in the chain of cus-tody standards. If available, mandatory template checklists could be used to verify the re-quirements.

D.1.05 Record keeping Are companies re-quired to keep CoC records for at least the term of certificate validity?


A statement requiring suppliers to maintain documentation of CoC records (documentation of pur-chases incl. supplier's name and ad-dress, date of purchase, quantity and product type, certificate code), and sales (incl. buyer's name and address, date of sale, quantity and product type, certificate code) for at least the time of certification va-lidity

only applicable if claims are made regarding the origin of certain ingredients or products (CoC is required). In order to be available for possible checks and assurance activities, the required docu-mentation should be available for at least the duration of cer-tification.


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SSCT ID



D.1.06

Traceability sys-tem

Does the scheme have a traceability system that enables checking of product flow between links of the supply chain?


- A description of the system it uses to collect and analyze data from suppliers in order to trace back different certified inputs across different supply chain en-tities

only applicable if claims are made regarding the origin of certain ingredients or products (CoC is required)

D.2 – Claims & Labelling

D.2.01 MiK Claims policy Does the scheme owner make docu-mented requirements governing the use of symbols, logos and claims available?


- A policy document on how to use symbols, logos and claims

ISO/IEC 17021-1, 8.4.1 ISEAL Claims Guide 2.5.1, 2.1.3

D.2.02 MiK Clarity of claim Do claims and label-ling requirements en-sure that claims or logos clearly indicate to what they apply?


- A clear indication to what the claim/label applies, e.g. the com-plete product, a product compo-nent, packaging, service, for promo-tional use, etc.

ISO/IEC 17021-1, 8.4.1


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SSCT ID



D.2.03 Relevant claims Do claims require-ments specify the types of claims that can be made for dif-ferent types of CoC models, where the scheme owner allows for more than one model?


- An overview of differences in claims, depending on the types of CoC used. These claims shall accu-rately reflect the type of CoC. For example: - Claims on origin can only be made under Identity preserved - Claims on 100% certified material require Segregation - When Mass Balance or Controlled Blending is used, claims need to show that mixing is allowed - When Certificate Trading (Book & Claim) is allowed, "supports sustain-able production" (or similar) is an adequate claim

"Not applicable" if: - Product label - Only use of one CoC model


D.2.04 Tracking mechanism Are claims and label users required to use unique license num-bers or other tracking mechanisms?


'- A visible mechanism to be used by label and claims users which pro-vides the ability to trace back the product to its origins. Schemes may distinguish between COC-numbers to be applied on claims and logo li-cense numbers to be applied when labels are used.

Not applicable if no claims are made regarding the origin of certain ingredients or products (CoC is required).



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D.2.05 Accurate use of claims

Does the scheme owner require surveil-lance of the accurate use of claims and la-bels in the market, in-cluding a complaints mechanism to report misuse?

No / Yes Either of the following: - Clearly defined activities pursued to make sure labels and claims are used accurately - A complaints mechanism that al-lows stakeholders to report the false use of labels and claims


D.2.06 Stepwise claims Does the scheme re-quire different claims depending on the per-centage of certified / verified content in a product?


- A statement in its claims policy that different percentage require-ments of certified inputs require ac-curate labelling, reflecting these dif-ferences Not applicable if: - Claim does not refer to product in-puts/single ingredients but to the whole/ final product



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D.2.07 Minimum % input claims

What is the minimum percentage of a certi-fied / verified input in a single ingredient product for a claim to be allowed for that product?

10-49% / 50-100% / not specified / not applicable

- A written statement on the mini-mum percentage requirements in a single-ingredient product

'No' if: - No evidence of minimum per-centages even though missing is allowed Not applicable if: - Claim does not refer to prod-uct inputs/single ingredients but to the whole/ final product or if % claims are not included in system


D.2.08 Minimum % compo-site product claims

What is the minimum percentage of certi-fied / verified material in a composite prod-uct for a claim to be allowed for that prod-uct?

10-49% / 50-100% / not specified / not applicable

- A written statement on the mini-mum percentage requirements in a composite product

'No' if: - No evidence of minimum per-centages even though missing is allowed Not applicable if: - Claim does not refer to prod-uct inputs/single ingredients but to the whole/ final product or if % claims are not included in system



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D.2.09 Graphic label ex-planatory statement

Is the label accompa-nied by an explana-tory text claim or a link to further infor-mation?


Either of the following: - A short text next to the logo ex-plaining some detail about the label - A QR code, link or any other form of additional information which helps to understand the label Not applicable if: - No graphic labels are used

D.2.10 Consequences of misuse of claims

Does the scheme have a procedure that de-fines specific conse-quences of misuse of claims?

No / Yes - Statement/policy that defines what happens if misuse is discov-ered This question also relates to fraudu-lent claim use.



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Entfernte Kriterien / Removed Criteria

SSCT ID Type Criteria name



Group Certification

C.2.12 Removed Group cer-tification / verifica-tion

Does the scheme allow for group certification or verifi-cation?


--> Only applicable if scheme requires audits. This question does not apply to CoC audits. - The scheme explicitly states that group certifi-cation or verification is allowed.

ISEAL Assur-ance Code 6.5

Traceability

D.1.02 Removed Chain of Custody Model


Certificate Trading / Mass Balance / Segregation / Not applica-ble

- traceability system described in Chain of Cus-tody manual or methodology

'--> only applicable if claims are made regard-ing the origin of certain ingredients or products (CoC is required) - See Glossary for differ-ent types of CoC models.

UN Global Compact, BSR (2014). A Guide to Traceability


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III. URSPRÜNGLICHE FASSUNG / ORIGINAL VERSION


SSCT ID

Type Criteria name Criteria question Response options Requirements Reference

Governance

A.01 MiK Scheme Man-agement

Does the scheme owner make its organisational structure available?

Accepted: Yes (on request)/ Yes, publicly Not accepted: No

- An overview of the different governance bodies that manage and govern the scheme (i.e. board, advisory board, board of trustees, etc.). This can be in the form of an organizational chart or narrative document.


A.02 MiK Scheme legal status

Is the scheme owner a legal entity, or an or-ganization that is a part-nership of legal entities, or a government or in-ter-governmental agency?


- Information showing the legal status of the organ-ization, often also listed in publicly available com-mercial registers (commonly also for non-commer-cial organisations).

ISO/IEC 17067, 6.3.3

A.03 Governance body account-ability

Is there a mechanism by which the top decision-making body members are accountable to all stakeholders?

No / Yes - A clear accountability mechanism (e.g. elections with voting members, accountability through deeds of trust, appointment by boards that are in turn elected, stakeholder advisory body) Stakeholders in this case mean any parties who are directly or indirectly affected by the decisions of

ISO/IEC 17067, 6.4.4


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the top-decision making body (e.g. producers, con-sumer organizations, members, etc.).

A.04 Balanced deci-sion-making in governance

Do the voting proce-dures of the top deci-sion-making body en-sure that there is a bal-anced representation of stakeholder interests, where no single interest predominates?

No / Yes - Enough information on the voting procedure to be sure that there is a balanced representation of stakeholder interests. The procedure shall also as-sure that no single interest predominates.

A.05 MiK & Art. 43

Sources of fi-nance

Does the scheme owner make quantitative infor-mation on the income sources or financing structure of the scheme available?

Accepted: Yes (on request)/ Yes, publicly Not accepted: No

- An overview of quantitative information on the income sources or financing structure of the scheme (e.g. potentially including type of funding (i.e. financial, assets, manpower, etc), name of fun-ders, amount or %-distribution of income sources). This could be provided in the form of an annex to annual reports.

ISO 14024 7.4.3, 2014/24/EU Art. 43 (1)

A.06 Quality man-agement

Does the scheme owner have an internal quality management system available?


- At least three of the following elements: a quality policy, quality objectives, a quality manual, clear organizational structure and responsibilities, data management, monitoring of essential processes, product quality, continuous improvement including corrective and preventive action, the existence of quality instruments.

Adapted from ISO 9001


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A.07 MiK & Art. 43

Independence of scheme owner from certificate holder

Is the scheme owner economically independ-ent from the certificate holder?


- A policy which governs the independence of the scheme owner or proof that the scheme owner is not economically dependent on one single certifi-cate holder.

ISO 14024 3.7 2014/24/EU Art. 43 (1)

A.08 Sustainability goals and ob-jectives of the scheme

Does the scheme owner have sustainability-ori-ented goals and objec-tives?

No / Yes - The scheme owner explicitly defines its overall goals and objectives, e.g. the mission and vision, ei-ther in its statutes or in a separate statement (e.g. a mission statement) - The goals and objectives are sustainability-ori-ented, i.e. oriented towards improving environ-mental and/or socio-economic impacts

Sup-ported by ISO/IEC 17067, 6.3.4

A.09 Strategy to achieve scheme sus-tainability goals

Does the scheme owner have a strategy for meeting its sustainabil-ity-oriented goals and objectives?


- A documented strategy that the scheme has de-fined and uses to ensure that it meets its goals and objectives. This should entail: clear goals, actions to achieve the goals, and a description of availa-ble/needed resources to execute the actions.

ISEAL Im-pacts Code 7.1, 7.2

A.10 Mutual recog-nition agree-ments

Has the scheme signed a mutual recognition agreement with at least one other scheme?

No / Yes - The mutual recognition agreement in which the affected parties detail the degree of mutual recog-nition (referring to e.g. harmonized standards con-tent or audit methodologies) Please note: national vis-A-vis international stand-ards of the same scheme owner are not eligible for a 'Yes'

Impact


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A.11 Impact meas-urement

Does the scheme owner have a system in place for measuring its im-pacts and progress to-wards its sustainability goals?


Either of the following: - The proven existence of a monitoring and evalua-tion system, which contains indicators the scheme owner uses to measure its outputs, outcomes and impacts - For ISO type I labels, the most relevant impact is usually introduced prior to the development of cri-teria by conducting a life cycle based impact study. The resulting criteria are developed to reduce these impacts. The design of this approach there-fore also includes the measurement of impact and is eligible for a 'Yes'. In order to receive a ‘Yes’, the reasoning behind the conclusions for choosing the actual requirements need to be available publicly or on request.


A.12 Adaptive man-agement

Does the scheme owner use the results of moni-toring and evaluation for learning and im-provements to its pro-gramme?

No / Yes - The scheme regularly feeds in the results of moni-toring & evaluation in its internal processes, e.g. records of inclusion on the agenda of meetings, policy for when results are considered


A.13 Reporting monitoring re-sults

Does the scheme owner make sustainability re-sults from M&E availa-ble?

No / Yes (on re-quest) / Yes, pub-licly / Not applica-ble

→ not applicable for schemes that develop differ-ent product standards based on a life-cycle and multi-criteria approach (ISO type I labels) - A report on the results of the monitoring and



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evaluation, which contains indicators the scheme owner uses to measure its outputs, outcomes and impacts

Supporting Strategies

A.14 Compliance Technical As-sistance

Does the scheme pro-vide access to technical assistance for compli-ance with the standard?

No / Yes - This question is mostly relevant for schemes which have a capacity building approach. Technical assistance could be given in the form of work-shops, trainings, provision of equipment, etc.

A.15 Beyond com-pliance Tech-nical Assis-tance

Does the scheme pro-vide access to technical assistance beyond com-pliance with the stand-ard?

No / Yes - This question is mostly relevant for schemes which have a capacity building approach. Technical assistance beyond compliance includes actions like providing resources, coordinating conferences or other peer learning opportunities, etc.

A.16 Access to fi-nance

Does the scheme pro-vide access to finance for enterprises seeking certification?

No / Yes - A finance mechanism for increasing access possi-bilities for enterprises seeking certification Examples include advance payments to facilitate the purchase of produce from the farmers, the ex-istence of a support fund, or the payment of verifi-cation/ certification fees via purchasing companies.


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SSCT ID


B.01 MiK & Art. 43

Availability of Standard

Is the standard made available free of charge?

Accepted: Yes (on re-quest)/ Yes, publicly Not accepted: No

Either of the following: - The standard document is freely available for download on the scheme owner's website, incl. all criteria and accompanying documents to support consistent interpretation. All corresponding ac-companying documents shall also be freely availa-ble. - An online statement that the standard is made available to any interested stakeholder on request free of charge - Choose 'No' also if available only for members or for a fee

ISEAL Std-Setting Code 5.7.1 ISO 14024 7.4.3 2014/24/EU Art. 43 (1)

B.02 Art. 43 Key Issues Has a set of key sustaina-bility issues in the sector or product lifecycle been defined in the standard-setting process?

No / Yes Either of the following: - A list or summary of research studies and reports (e.g. governmental reports, university studies and publications, NGO reports) that legitimize the iden-tified key issues - Existence of a standards committee with tech-nical experts who identify the key issues, with the

ISEAL Std-Setting Code 5.1.1 2014/24/EU Art. 43 (1)


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experts addressed by ISO or DIN - For ISO Type I ecolabels: Key areas of environ-mental impacts have been identified through re-search methods (e.g. LCA studies or equivalent) that are robust and accurate enough to support environmental claims and that lead to exact and reproducible results In order for this question to be answered with a 'Yes', the provided information shall match the ar-eas that the scheme owner addresses in the stand-ard. There shall be evidence that the information is used for the standard-setting process. This can be for example in the form of a research chapter in one of the standard setting documents.

B.03 MiK & Art. 43

Standard-set-ting process

Are the standard-setting procedures or a public summary of how stake-holders can engage made available?


- The standard-setting procedures are docu-mented, outlining how stakeholders can engage in the process - The documentation includes the bodies involved in the standard-setting process and their respec-tive roles and decision-making functions - The scheme owner also ensures that interested stakeholders can access the documents relating to the standard-setting process - In order for this criterion to be answered with a 'Yes, publicly', there shall be evidence that the



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scheme owner publicly announces each consulta-tion period on its website

B.04 MiK & Art. 43

Public consul-tation of standard

Which stakeholders can participate in the stand-ard-setting process?

Accepted: Members only / Invitation only / All stakeholders

- Members only: If it is a member organization and only members can consult - Invitation only: If the scheme selects stakeholders to be invited for consultation - All stakeholders: Open to any interested stake-holder

For ISO Type I: ISO 14024 6.2., ISEAL Std-Setting Code 5.4.2, 2014/24/EU Art. 43 (1)

B.05 Art. 43 Consultation with directly affected stake-holders

Are stakeholders who are directly affected by the standard provided oppor-tunities to participate in standard setting?

No / Yes - Identification and documentation of which stake-holders are directly affected - Records of activities to proactively reach out to these stakeholders and encourage their participa-tion in standard setting

ISEAL Standard-Setting Code 5.4.4 For ISO Type I: ISO 14024 5.9. and 6.2., 2014/24/


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EU Art. 43 (1)

B.06 Pilot testing Are draft standards field tested / piloted for rele-vance and auditability during the development process?


→ not applicable for schemes that develop differ-ent product standards based on a life-cycle and multi-criteria approach (ISO type I labels) - Documented evidence (i.e. field test reports) that this is being done

B.07 MiK & Art. 43

Stakeholder feedback

Does the scheme owner provide information on how the input received from consultations has been included in the final version of the standard?


- Documentation of collected feedback from previ-ous public consultations - Statement on how the collected feedback was used for the setting or revision of the Standard

ISEAL Std-Setting Code 5.4.5, 2014/24/EU Art. 43 (1)

B.08 Art. 43 Stakeholder representation in standards decisions

Do the voting procedures of the decision-making body responsible for standard setting ensure that there is a balanced representation of stake-holder interests?

No / Yes - Documented information on the voting proce-dure of the highest decision-making body responsi-ble for the standard setting process specifies that all categories of stakeholders are represented. The procedure shall also ensure that a stakeholder cat-egory is not able to dominate decision-making

ISEAL Std-Setting Code 5.6.3 2014/24/EU Art. 43 (1)

B.09 MiK & Art. 43

Standard Re-view


Accepted: Yes Not accepted:

- A statement that details the frequency of review and revision of the applicable standards, with a fre-quency of no more than five years. This

For ISO Type I: ISO 14024 5.8.2.


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No information is most likely included in the standard-setting procedure.

ISO Guide 59, 4.6 ISEAL Std-Setting Code 5.8.1 2014/24/EU Art. 43 (1)

B.10 MiK & Art. 43

Consistent in-terpretation

Does the scheme ensure that guidance is in place to support consistent in-terpretation of the stand-ard?


- The standard and/or separate guidance docu-ments for interpretation shall be formulated in a comprehensive and binding way, so that each indi-vidual criterion can be assessed consistently and thoroughly by third parties. ISO 14024, clause 6.4 provides rules for developing ISO Type 1 environ-mental product criteria. - The standard and/or guidance documents shall specify necessary evidence for each criterion.

ISEAL Std-Setting Code 6.3.1, 6.3.2, 2014/24/EU Art. 43 (1), ISO 14024 6.4

B.11 Interpretation to regional context

Are there procedures and guidance for application or interpretation of the standard to regional con-texts?


→ not applicable for schemes that develop differ-ent product standards based on a life-cycle and multi-criteria approach (ISO type I labels) Either of the following: - Information in the standard about how each of the requirements can be interpreted for applica-tion at a local level

ISEAL Std-Setting Code 6.4 ISO Guide 59


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- Procedure for development of a local adaptation of the standard including stakeholder consultation measures. - The standard organization has country-specific standards In case of ISO Type I labels or other process-based standards this is 'not applicable', as its approach does not allow for the recognition of local con-texts.

B.12 Complaints mechanism

Does the scheme owner have a complaints mecha-nism for the standard-set-ting process?


- A written statement which shall contain the fol-lowing information: - Clear steps and responsibilities to resolve the complaint - In what form and to whom a complaint needs to be submitted to


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SSCT ID Type Criteria name Criteria question Response options Requirements Reference

C.1 - Assurance System C.1.01 MiK Assessment

methodology Is there a documented assessment methodol-ogy for CABs to assess compliance with the standard?


- A documented methodology describing require-ments for CABs and the assessment procedures (e.g. audit procedures or testing and verification meth-ods)

ISO/IEC 17067 ISEAL As-surance Code 6.1.1 GENICES Schedule A2 4.3 (5)

C.1.02 Art. 43 Scheme open-ness

Is application (to get certified/verified) open to all potential appli-cants within the scope of the scheme?

No / Yes - A policy which assures that every potential appli-cant can get certified/verified/become a member, as long as it is within the scope of the scheme (i.e. in a country where the scheme operates, a product group which the standard covers, etc.).

ISO 14024 5.13. 2014/24/EU Art. 43 (1) GENICES Schedule A2, 6

C.1.03 Assessment fees

Does the scheme owner require CABs to have an assessment fee sched-ule?


- CABs are required to maintain a written fee struc-ture that includes costs for initial assessment of compliance as well as continuing assessments to maintain certification or licences. - The scheme owner defines this requirement in cer-tification requirements/methodologies, or in the

ISO/IEC 17021-1, 8.5.1 c) ISEAL As-surance Code 6.1


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contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the AB, or in a separate accreditation manual.

(optional good practice) GENICES Schedule A2, 4.3 (6) & 9

C.1.04 Art. 43 Fee levels Are levels of all costs and fees incurred by ap-plicants and certificate holders/licensees based on programme costs and kept as low as pos-sible?

No / Yes - All initial und recurring fees are listed and made available (on request or on the website) and these are not excessive. - The scheme owner can justify that the level of all fees is calculated so as to cover necessary opera-tional costs only. Costs and fees include assessment and testing fees and any recurring costs required to obtain and main-tain a certificate or license, such as application fees, certificate fees, administrative fees etc.


C.1.05 MiK CAB com-plaints mecha-nism

Does the scheme owner require CABs to have a documented complaints mechanism in place for compliance decisions?


The complaints resolution procedure defines: - clear steps, timelines and responsibilities to resolve the complaint - in what form and to whom a complaint needs to be submitted

ISO/IEC 17021-1 9.8 ISO/IEC 17065 7.13 ISEAL As-surance


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Code 6.7.3 GENICES Schedule A2, 4.3 (4)

C.1.06 Art. 43 Assessment reports availa-bility

Does the scheme owner make, or require CABs to make, summary certi-fication/verification re-ports (with personal and commercially sensitive information removed) available?

No, no reports / No, confidential / Yes (on re-quest) / Yes, publicly

- The scheme owner defines this requirement in cer-tification requirements/methodologies, or in the contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the AB, or in a separate accreditation manual. The report should be made available in a UN and lo-cal language. - For schemes where assessment reports are not publicly available online, request summary reports from CAB to verify availability - If assessment reports cannot be shared by the scheme or by CABs due to confidentiality, chose "no, confidential" - If no assessment reports are written at all, choose "no, no reports" Note: For ISO Type I labelling programmes, the equivalent requirement is transparency on (noncon-fidential) "evidence on which the awarding of the la-bel is based" (see ISO 14024 clause 5.11).

ISEAL As-surance Code 6.1.1 (op-tional good practice) ISO 14024 5.11 2014/24/EU Art. 43 (1)


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C.1.07 MiK Duration of certificate / li-cense

Does the certificate or license define the dura-tion for which it is valid?


- The scheme owner defines this requirement in cer-tification requirements/methodologies, or in the contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the AB, or in a separate accreditation manual - If not defined in the certification require-ments/methodologies, the scheme owner should have a guidance specifying the information to be in-cluded in certificates or licences. - For membership-based initiatives, membership du-ration counts as equivalent, as long as the contract implies that standard rules must apply at all times.


C.1.08 Scope of cer-tificate / li-cense

Does the certificate or license define the scope of assurance?

No / Yes - The scheme owner defines this requirement in cer-tification requirements/methodologies, or in the contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the AB, or in a separate accreditation manual - If not defined in the certification require-ments/methodologies, the scheme owner should have a guidance specifying the information to be in-cluded in certificates or licences.


C.1.09 Certified or verified enter-prise / labelled product list

Does the scheme owner maintain or require CABs to maintain a pub-licly accessible list of certified or verified

No / Yes / Yes, incl. scope of certificate or li-cense

- A system to show the certified/ verified enterprises OR the enterprises producing certified/ verified products is publicly available (for example in a data-base or by uploaded lists). - This system shall be up-to-date and complete

ISO/IEC 17021-1 8.3 and ISEAL As-surance


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enterprises, or a list of verified products/prod-uct groups, or a list of members (in case of membership-based initi-atives)?

(managed by the scheme owner or outsourced to the ABs or CABs). If this is outsourced to the ABs or CABs, this is required and described in the con-tract/agreement between the scheme owner and the AB/CAB, in a separate accreditation manual or for example in certification requirements/methodol-ogies.

Code 6.1.1 GENICES Schedule A2, 4.5

C.1.10 MiK Accredited/ap-proved CABs

Does the scheme owner maintain a list of all ac-credited/approved CABs?


- A system to list all CABs accepted by the scheme or accredited by respective ABs is available, up-to-date and complete. This list could also be available on ac-cepted AB websites.


C.1.11 Frequency of assurance sys-tem review

Does the scheme owner review their assurance system on a periodic ba-sis?

No / Yes - The scheme shall prove that it regularly reviews its assurance system, i.e. how it seeks to guarantee that its standard requirements are actually being imple-mented.

ISO 17067 6.6 ISEAL As-surance Code 5.2.4

C.1.12 Notification of assurance sys-tem changes

Does the scheme owner require that clients and other affected stake-holders are notified of changes to the assur-ance requirements?

No / Yes - There shall be evidence that affected stakeholders are notified by changes to the scheme's assurance system, for example by checking notifications after previous assurance system changes.

ISO 17067 6.6.2 ISEAL As-surance Code 5.2.5


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C.1.13 Continuous improvement requirements

Does the scheme owner allow partial certifica-tion by an enterprise, with requirements to in-crease the percentage of certified produce over time?

No / Yes - The scheme owner defines this requirement in cer-tification requirements/methodologies, or in the contract/agreement between The scheme owner and The AB, or in a separate accreditation manual.

C.1.14 Chain of Cus-tody: CoC As-sessment methodology

Does the scheme owner have a documented as-sessment methodology for CABs that are as-sessing chain of cus-tody?

No / Yes, availa-ble on request / Yes, publicly available / Not applicable

--> only applicable if claims are made regarding the origin of certain ingredients or products (CoC is re-quired) - A documented methodology describing require-ments for CABs and the assessment procedures of enterprises that handle or trade product along the supply chain (e.g. Chain of custody certification re-quirements/methodologies)


C.2 - Conformity Assessment


C.2.02 MiK Level of con-formity assess-ment

What is the most inde-pendent type of con-formity assessment re-quired by the scheme?

Accepted: 3rd party Not accepted: 1st party / 2nd party /

- The scheme owner defines this requirement in cer-tification requirements/methodologies, or in the contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the AB, or in a separate accreditation manual. 1st party is a self-assessment; 2nd party is by an in-terested stakeholder, e.g. an industry association; 3rd party is independent from the client. Some



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schemes may provide for different levels of con-formity assessments (e.g. a self-assessment followed by a third-party audit), therefore the most independ-ent level is the determining factor, regardless of when the audit takes place.

C.2.04 Consistent de-cision-making on compliance

Does the scheme owner define guidelines for de-cision-making to ensure that CABs use con-sistent procedures for determining compliance of clients with the standard?

No / Yes - The scheme owner defines this requirement in cer-tification requirements/methodologies, or in the contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the AB, or in a separate accreditation manual - The scheme owner has a guidance specifying differ-ent gradations of non-conformities (if applicable) and how to determine them, verifying corrective ac-tions arising from non-compliances and allowing for appeals of non-compliances, in order to support con-sistency between CABs.

ISEAL As-surance Code 6.4.9 ISO 14024 5.10 & 7.2.2 GENICES Schedule A2 4.3 (2) & (3)

C.2.05 MiK Procedure on remediation

Does the scheme owner require CABs to have a procedure in place for how clients are required to address non-con-formities, including when a certificate or li-cense is suspended or revoked?


- The scheme owner defines this requirement in cer-tification requirements/methodologies, or in the contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the AB, or in a separate accreditation manual - The procedure specifies how different degrees of non-conformity (if applicable) are to be addressed and remediated, in order to support consistency be-tween CABs. - The procedure also specifies the conditions under which certification / the licence may be suspended

ISEAL As-surance Code 6.4.10 ISO/IEC 17065 7.11 ISO/IEC 17021-1 9.6


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or withdrawn, partially or in total, for all or part of the scope of certification / the licence.

GENICES Schedule A2, 4.3 (2) & (3)


C.2.01 ISO Compli-ance for certi-fication/verifi-cation

Does the scheme owner require CABs to be com-pliant with ISO/IEC 17065, ISO/IEC 17021, ISO/IEC 17020 or equiv-alent?


--> Only applicable if the scheme requires audits. This question does not apply to CoC audits. - The scheme owner defines this requirement in cer-tification requirements/methodologies, or in the contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the AB, or in a separate accreditation manual


C.2.03 Audit fre-quency

At least how often do clients undergo a full audit process?

1 year or less / 1-2 years / 2-3 years / 4-5 years / 5 years or more / Not ap-plicable

--> Only applicable if the scheme requires audits. This question does not apply to CoC audits. - The scheme owner defines this requirement in cer-tification requirements/methodologies, or in the contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the AB, or in a separate accreditation manual This question refers to external audits. In a full audit process, all requirements of the standard and the whole system of the client that is to be assessed are verified. This would usually include re-certification

ISO 17067 5.3.8 ISO 17065 7.9.3/4 ISEAL As-surance Code 6.4.1


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audits but not necessarily surveillance audits in case these are less rigorous. In the response, state the least possible frequency, i.e. if an interval can be skipped for certain clients, e.g. based on a risk as-sessment, the frequency shall be reduced (see also criterion on risk-based audit frequency)

C.2.06 Risk-based au-dit frequency

Is the frequency of an audit based in part on a risk assessment of the client?


--> Only applicable if the scheme requires audits. This question does not apply to CoC audits. - Risk-based audits make the whole certification pro-cess more efficient and less costly. There shall be ev-idence of how the scheme assesses risk and how it accordingly allocates identified audit needs.

C.2.07 Audit activities What type of activities are CABs required to undertake during a full audit?

Document re-view (off-site) only / Docu-ment review on-site / Field visit (incl. office visit & doc. review) / Not applicable

/ ISEAL As-surance Code 6.4.1

C.2.08 Unscheduled audits

Does the scheme owner allow or require CABs to do unscheduled audits?

Not allowed / Allowed / Re-quired / Not ap-plicable

--> Only applicable if the scheme requires audits. This question does not apply to CoC audits. - The scheme owner defines this requirement in cer-tification requirements/methodologies, or in the

ISO/IEC 17021-1 9.5.2 ISEAL As-surance


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contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the AB, or in a separate accreditation manual

Code 6.7.1

C.2.09 Stakeholder participation in audit

Are auditors required to solicit external stake-holder input during the audit process?


--> Only applicable if the scheme requires audits. This question does not apply to CoC audits. - The scheme owner defines this requirement in cer-tification requirements/methodologies, or in the contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the AB, or in a separate accreditation manual. There should be explicit reference that the scheme requires auditors to proactively solicit external stakeholder input during the audit process and to show how they took comments into account.


C.2.10 Audit / evalua-tion report format

Does the scheme owner require CABs to follow a consistent report for-mat?


--> Only applicable if the scheme requires audits. This question does not apply to CoC audits. - The scheme owner defines this requirement in cer-tification requirements/methodologies, or in the contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the AB, or in a separate accreditation manual - The scheme owner should have a guidance specify-ing formats for audit reports and reporting, in order to support consistency between CABs. Alternatively to a guidance on audit report formats, mandatory

ISEAL As-surance Code 6.4.2. ISO/IEC 17021-1 9.4.8 ISO/IEC 17065 7.7


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templates may be provided, however, guidance on reporting should still be available.

C.2.11 Decision-mak-ing independ-ence

Are the people making the compliance decision different from those en-gaged in the audit pro-cess?


--> Only applicable if the scheme requires audits. This question does not apply to CoC audits. - The scheme owner defines this requirement in cer-tification requirements/methodologies, or in the contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the AB, or in a separate accreditation manual

ISO/IEC 17065 4.2 and 5.2 and ISO/IEC 17021-1, ISEAL As-surance Code 5.2.3

C.2.12 Group certifi-cation / verifi-cation

Does the scheme allow for group certification or verification?


--> Only applicable if scheme requires audits. This question does not apply to CoC audits. - The scheme explicitly states that group certification or verification is allowed.

ISEAL As-surance Code 6.5

Group certification

C.2.13 Group internal management system

Is the group required to have an internal man-agement system?


--> Only applicable if the scheme requires audits and allows group certification. This question does not ap-ply to CoC audits. - The scheme owner defines this requirement in the group certification or verification require-ments/methodologies, or in the contract/



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agreement between the scheme owner and the AB or in a separate accreditation manual.

C.2.14 Group internal verification

Is there a requirement that at least all group sites are visited during the period of validity of the certificate?


--> Only applicable if the scheme requires audits and allows group certification. This question does not ap-ply to CoC audits. - The scheme owner defines this requirement in the group certification or verification require-ments/methodologies, or in the contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the AB or in a sepa-rate accreditation manual.


C.2.15 Group exter-nal sample size

Is there a sample size formula to determine the number of group members that is exter-nally verified?

No / Yes / Yes based on risk as-sessment / Not applicable

--> Only applicable if the scheme requires audits and allows group certification. This question does not ap-ply to CoC audits. - The scheme owner defines this requirement in the group certification or verification require-ments/methodologies, or in the contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the AB or in a sepa-rate accreditation manual.


C.2.16 Non-compliant group mem-bers

Do the requirements on group certification/veri-fication define the con-ditions under which a group member shall be


--> Only applicable if the scheme requires audits and allows group certification. This question does not ap-ply to CoC audits. - The scheme owner defines this requirement in the group certification or verification



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suspended or removed from a group?

requirements/methodologies, or in the con-tract/agreement between the scheme owner and the AB or in a separate accreditation manual.

Chain of Custody

C.2.17 Chain of Cus-tody: ISO Com-pliance for CoC certifica-tion

Does the scheme owner require CoC CABs to be compliant with ISO/IEC 17020, ISO/IEC 17021, or ISO/IEC 17065 or equivalent?


--> only applicable if claims are made regarding the origin of or certain ingredients or products (CoC is required) - The scheme owner defines this requirement in Chain of custody certification or traceability require-ments/methodologies, or in the contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the AB, or in a sepa-rate accreditation manual


C.2.18 Chain of Cus-tody: Level of CoC conform-ity assessment

What is the most inde-pendent type of CoC conformity assessment required by the scheme?

1st party / 2nd party / 3rd party / Not applicable

--> only applicable if claims are made regarding the origin of or certain ingredients or products (CoC is required) - The scheme owner defines this requirement in Chain of custody certification or traceability require-ments/methodologies, or in the contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the AB, or in a sepa-rate accreditation manual 1st party is a self-assessment; 2nd party is by an in-terested stakeholder, e.g. an industry association; 3rd party is independent of the client. Some


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schemes may provide for different levels of con-formity assessments (e.g. a self-assessment followed by a third-party audit), therefore the most independ-ent level is determining.

C.2.19 Chain of Cus-tody: CoC au-dit activities

What type of activities are CoC CABs required to undertake during a full CoC assessment?

Document re-view (off-site) only / Docu-ment review on-site / Field visit (incl. office visit & doc. review) / Not applicable

--> only applicable if claims are made regarding the origin of certain ingredients or products (CoC is re-quired) - The scheme owner defines this requirement in Chain of custody certification or traceability require-ments/methodologies, or in the contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the AB, or in a sepa-rate accreditation manual In a full CoC assessment or audit, all requirements of the CoC standard and the whole system of the client that is to be assessed are audited. This would usually include re-certification audits but not necessarily surveillance audits/assessments in case these are less intense.


C.2.20 Chain of Cus-tody: Physical handling

Does the scheme owner require all enterprises that are physically han-dling the certified prod-uct to undergo a CoC audit if the product can


--> only applicable if claims are made regarding the origin of certain ingredients or products (CoC is re-quired) - This shall be in the form of a written requirement as part of the certification requirements.


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be destined for retail sale as a certified, la-belled product?

Possibly review scope of certificates, if available online.

Laboratory Testing

C.2.21 Laboratory testing: Infor-mation on test methods

In the documented as-sessment methodology, are test methods either referred to or included?

No / Yes (on re-quest) / Yes, publicly / Not applicable

→ only applicable if scheme requires laboratory test-ing - The required test methods need to be referred to or provided in the Standard document or in other corresponding documents.

GENICES Schedule A2, 4.13 (2)

C.2.22 Laboratory testing: Labor-atory accredi-tation

Does the scheme owner require laboratories to be accredited according to recognized labora-tory accreditation standards?

No / Yes, to ISO 17025 / Yes, to other recog-nized standards / Not applicable

→ only applicable if scheme requires laboratory test-ing - Besides ISO/IEC 17025 (General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laborato-ries), recognized standards are ISO 15189 (Medical laboratories - Particular requirements for quality and competence), OECD Principle of GLP (Good Labora-tory Practice) or equivalent national standards.

ISO 17065: 6.2.2.1

C.2.23 Laboratory testing: Sur-veillance lab testing of products

Are there rules on ran-dom sampling and test-ing for the compliance monitoring?


→ only applicable if scheme requires laboratory test-ing - Written evidence is required by the scheme owner that includes rules on random sampling and testing of the (final) products. OR

GENICES Schedule A2, 4.11


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- Written evidence is required by the scheme owner that includes rules on random sampling and testing of samples collected in the field e.g. soil or waste water samples.

C.2.24 Laboratory testing: Non-compliant products

Is there a procedure to deal with non-compliant products manufactured by a client / licensee?


→ only applicable if scheme requires laboratory test-ing - Written evidence is required by the scheme owner that includes a defined procedure to deal with non-compliance

GENICES Schedule A2, 4.11

C. 3 - Auditor Competencies

C.3.01 Personnel competencies

Does the scheme owner define specific qualifica-tions and competencies for CAB auditors?


--> Only applicable if the scheme requires audits - The scheme owner defines this requirement in cer-tification requirements/methodologies, or in the contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the AB, or in a separate accreditation manual -The scheme owner has guidance specifying qualifi-cations and competence criteria for CABs or requires that CABs have this. (check that CABs have this in place)

ISO /IEC 17021-1 7.1. & 7.2 ISO/IEC 17065 6.1 ISEAL As-surance Code 6.3.1

C.3.02 Auditor stand-ards training

Does the scheme owner require that CAB audi-tors successfully com-plete training on the


--> only applicable if scheme requires audits - The scheme owner defines this requirement in cer-tification requirements/methodologies, or in the contract/agreement between the scheme owner



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standard and its inter-pretation?

and the AB, or in a separate accreditation manual - The scheme owner has a guidance specifying the training system and content in order to support con-sistency between CABs.

C.3.03 Auditing skills training

Does the scheme owner require that CAB audi-tors successfully com-plete auditor training based on ISO 19011, or equivalent?


--> only applicable if scheme requires audits - The scheme owner defines this requirement in the contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the CAB, in a separate accreditation manual or for example in certification requirements/methodol-ogies.

ISO 19011

C.3.04 Auditor super-vision

Does the scheme owner require that new audi-tors have a probation-ary period where their competence in an audit is assessed or super-vised?


--> Only applicable if the scheme requires audits - The scheme owner defines this requirement in cer-tification requirements/methodologies, or in the contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the AB, or in a separate accreditation manual. The question refers to whether the auditor is new to a CAB and whether he/she receives some form of su-pervision, e.g. the four-eye principle during first au-dits.

ISEAL As-surance Code 6.3.2, ISO 19011

C.3.05 Regular audi-tor evaluation

Does the scheme owner require that CAB audi-tors are evaluated at least every 3 years?


--> Only applicable if the scheme requires audits '- The scheme owner defines this requirement in cer-tification requirements/methodologies, or in the

ISO/IEC 17065 7.1.3 ISO/IEC


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contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the AB, or in a separate accreditation manual - The CAB has an evaluation schedule for auditors

17021-1 7.1.3 ISEAL As-surance Code 6.3.4

C.3.06 Continuing au-ditor training

Does the scheme owner have or require that CABs have a continuing professional develop-ment program in place?


--> Only applicable if the scheme requires audits - The scheme owner defines this requirement in cer-tification requirements/methodologies, or in the contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the AB, or in a separate accreditation manual - The scheme owner has a guidance specifying suita-ble continuing professional development programs, in order to support consistency between CABs. - If the scheme owner provides this program, it should not discriminate or limit CABs and a regularly updated assessment should be in place to assure the scheme owner has sufficient knowledge and capac-ity to run this program.

ISO/IEC 17021-1 7.2.7 ISO/IEC 17065 6.1.2.1 b) ISEAL As-surance Code 6.3.3

C.3.07 Personnel sus-pension

Does the scheme owner require that there are repercussions such as probation or suspension for the misconduct or


--> only applicable if scheme requires audits - The scheme owner defines this requirement in cer-tification requirements/methodologies, or in the contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the AB, or in a separate accreditation manual


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poor performance of CAB personnel?

C.4 - Accreditation/Oversight

C.4.01 Accredita-tion/oversight mechanism

Does the scheme re-quire a documented ac-creditation or oversight mechanism?


Either of the following: - The scheme owner documents this requirement in a contract/agreement between the scheme owner and an AB or oversight body, in a separate accredita-tion manual or for example in certification require-ments/methodologies. - The scheme is owned by the government and de-veloped according to a multi stakeholder approach. It is assumed that this structure presumes a kind of oversight mechanism


C.4.02 ISO 17011 compliance

Does the scheme owner require ISO 17011 com-pliance for ABs?


--> only applicable if scheme has an accredita-tion/oversight mechanism, and if the scheme is not owned by the government, and if the scheme is not based on a life cycle and/or multicriteria approach. - The scheme owner documents this requirement in a contract/ agreement between the scheme owner and an AB, in a separate accreditation manual or for example in certification requirements/ methodolo-gies.



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C.4.03 Independence of accredita-tion from scheme owner

Is the accreditation or oversight body inde-pendent from the scheme owner?


--> only applicable if scheme has an accredita-tion/oversight mechanism - The AB and scheme owner are separate legal enti-ties.

C.4.04 Frequency of accreditation assessments

How often do assurance providers undergo a full accreditation or over-sight assessment?

<1 year / 1 year / 2-3 years / 4-5 years / >5 years / Not applicable

--> only applicable if scheme has an accredita-tion/oversight mechanism, and if the scheme is not owned by the government, and if the scheme is not based on a life cycle and/or multicriteria approach. - The scheme owner defines this requirement in the contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the AB, in a separate accreditation manual or for example in certification requirements/methodolo-gies.

C.4.05 Risk-based ac-creditation as-sessments

Is the frequency of an accreditation or over-sight assessment based in part on a risk assess-ment of the client?


--> only applicable if scheme has an accredita-tion/oversight mechanism, and if the scheme is not owned by the government, and if the scheme is not based on a life cycle and/or multicriteria approach. - Risk-based accreditation or oversight assessment make the whole accreditation/oversight process more efficient and less costly. There shall be evi-dence of how the scheme requires risk to be


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assessed and how it accordingly allocates identified assessment needs.

C.4.06 CAB applica-tion re-strictions

Does the scheme owner ensure that all CABs are free to apply to operate under the scheme, irre-spective of their country of residence, size and of the existing number of providers already oper-ating under the scheme?


--> only applicable if scheme has an accredita-tion/oversight mechanism, and if the scheme is not owned by the government, and if the scheme is not based on a life cycle and/or multicriteria approach. - The application and selection process is sufficiently defined by the scheme owner in contracts/agree-ments, in referenced policies or certification require-ments/methodologies to require that selection of CABs is only by reference to the scope (or issues re-lating to open financial payments or incomplete ap-plication submissions). - The application process/forms of the AB should be online and can be verified.

ISO/IEC 17011 7.2


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C.4.07 Proxy accredi-tation/over-sight

Does the scheme owner accept CABs that are ac-credited/accepted by ABs to similar or generic scopes (proxy accredita-tion)?

No / Yes / Yes, assess scheme-specific compe-tence / Not ap-plicable

--> only applicable if scheme has an accredita-tion/oversight mechanism, and if the scheme is not owned by the government, and if the scheme is not based on a life cycle and/or multicriteria approach. - The scheme owner specifies this requirement in a contract/agreement between the scheme owner and an AB, in a separate accreditation manual or for example in certification requirements/methodolo-gies. The response option "Yes, assess scheme-specific competence" means that schemes only accept CABs that are accredited to similar or generic scopes only if they assess beforehand their scheme-specific com-petence, i.e. whether they have the competence re-quired to do conformity assessment related to the scheme's standard(s).


C.4.08 AB complaints mechanism

Does the scheme owner require ABs or oversight bodies to have a docu-mented complaints mechanism in place for compliance decisions?


--> only applicable if scheme has an accredita-tion/oversight mechanism, and if the scheme is not owned by the government, and if the scheme is not based on a life cycle and/or multicriteria approach. The complaints resolution mechanism procedures define: - clear steps, timelines and responsibilities to resolve the complaint

ISO/IEC 17011 5.9


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- in what form and to whom a complaint needs to be submitted to

C.4.09 Procedure on accredita-tion/oversight remediation

Does the scheme owner require ABs or oversight bodies to have a proce-dure in place for how CABs are required to ad-dress non-conformities using a corrective action process?


--> only applicable if scheme has an accredita-tion/oversight mechanism, and if the scheme is not owned by the government, and if the scheme is not based on a life cycle and/or multicriteria approach. - The scheme owner specifies this requirement in a contract/agreement between the scheme owner and an AB, in a separate accreditation manual or for example in certification requirements/methodolo-gies. - The AB has a guidance and timeline specifying how different gradations of non-conformity are to be ad-dressed and remediated. The requirements or guid-ance also specify the conditions under which accred-itation may be suspended or withdrawn, partially or in total, for all or part of the scope of accreditation.

ISO/IEC 17011 7.1.2 & 7.8 & 7.13


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C.4.10 Accredita-tion/oversight reports availa-bility

Does the scheme owner require ABs or oversight bodies to make sum-mary accredita-tion/oversight reports (with personal and com-mercially sensitive infor-mation removed) availa-ble?

No / Yes (on re-quest) / Yes, publicly / Not applicable

--> only applicable if scheme has an accredita-tion/oversight mechanism, and if the scheme is not owned by the government, and if the scheme is not based on a life cycle and/or multicriteria approach. - The scheme owner specifies this requirement in a contract/agreement between the scheme owner and an AB, in a separate accreditation manual or for example in certification requirements/methodolo-gies. The reports should be available in the applica-ble local as well as a UN language - For schemes where assessment reports are not publicly available online, request summary reports from AB to verify availability.

C.4.11 On-site ac-credita-tion/oversight assessment

Does the scheme owner ensure that the accredi-tation or oversight as-sessment includes an on-site assessment of the CAB?


--> only applicable if scheme has an accredita-tion/oversight mechanism, and if the scheme is not owned by the government, and if the scheme is not based on a life cycle and/or multicriteria approach. - The scheme owner defines this requirement in the contract/agreement between the scheme owner and the AB, in a separate accreditation manual or for example in certification requirements/methodolo-gies.

ISO/IEC 17011


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C.4.12 Accredita-tion/oversight witness audit

Does the scheme owner ensure that the accredi-tation or oversight pro-cess includes a review of the performance of CABs and auditors in the field?


--> only applicable if scheme has an accredita-tion/oversight mechanism and if the scheme re-quires audits - The scheme owner specifies this requirement in a contract/agreement between the scheme owner and an AB, in a separate accreditation manual or for example in certification requirements/methodolo-gies.


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D.1 - Traceability

D.1.01 Chain of Cus-tody standard / Traceability requirements

Does the scheme owner have a documented Chain of Custody stand-ard or other traceability requirements?

No / Yes, on re-quest / Yes, publicly / Not applicable

'Either of the following: - A CoC standard document which provides a de-scription of its chain of custody approach - A description of other measures for ensuring that certain information on ingredients/products are passed through the supply chain e.g. data sheets of chemicals or certificates from used inputs


D.1.02 Chain of Cus-tody Model


Certificate Trad-ing / Mass Bal-ance / Segrega-tion / Not appli-cable

'--> only applicable if claims are made regarding the origin of certain ingredients or products (CoC is re-quired.

See Glossary for different types of CoC models.


D.1.03 Mixing of in-puts

Are there any CoC re-quirements for non-cer-tified material, in case mixing of certified with uncertified inputs is al-lowed?


'Yes' if: - A description of how it traces back the origin of un-certified material 'Not applicable' if: - Statement telling that it does not allow the mixing of its certified with uncertified ingredients. - It is a product label (ISO type I label, e.g. Blue An-gel)


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If there is no evidence of a written statement, this shall be a 'No'.

D.1.04 Records for traceability

Does the scheme owner require CABs to verify that all enterprises within the chain main-tain accurate and acces-sible records that allow any certified product or batch of products to be traceable from the point of sale to the buyer?


'--> only applicable if claims are made regarding the origin of certain ingredients or products (CoC is re-quired) - A statement in which it requires CABs to verify that all suppliers maintain documentation of purchases (incl. supplier's name and address, date of purchase, quantity and product type, certificate code), and sales (incl. buyer's name and address, date of sale, quantity and product type, certificate code) This information can normally be found in the chain of custody standards. If available, mandatory tem-plate checklists could be used to verify the require-ments.

D.1.05 Record keep-ing

Are companies required to keep CoC records for at least the term of cer-tificate validity?


'--> only applicable if claims are made regarding the origin of certain ingredients or products (CoC is re-quired) In order to be available for possible checks and as-surance activities, the required documentation should be available for at least the duration of certi-fication. In order to receive a 'Yes', the scheme


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owner shall provide written evidence of the follow-ing: - A statement, in which it requires suppliers to main-tain documentation of CoC records (documentation of purchases incl. supplier's name and address, date of purchase, quantity and product type, certificate code), and sales (incl. buyer's name and address, date of sale, quantity and product type, certificate code) for at least the time of certification validity

D.1.06 Traceability system

Does the scheme have a traceability system that enables checking of product flow between links of the supply chain?


--> only applicable if claims are made regarding the origin of certain ingredients or products (CoC is re-quired) - A description of the system it uses to collect and analyze data from suppliers in order to trace back different certified inputs across different supply chain entities

D.2 - Claims & Labelling

D.2.01 MiK Claims policy Does the scheme owner make documented re-quirements governing the use of symbols, logos and claims availa-ble?


- A policy document on how to use symbols, logos and claims

ISO/IEC 17021-1, 8.4.1 ISEAL Claims Guide


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2.5.1, 2.1.3

D.2.02 MiK Clarity of claim Do claims and labelling requirements ensure that claims or logos clearly indicate to what they apply?


- A clear indication to what the claim/label applies, e.g. the complete product, a product component, packaging, service, for promotional use, etc.

ISO/IEC 17021-1, 8.4.1

D.2.03 Relevant claims

Do claims requirements specify the types of claims that can be made for different types of CoC models, where the scheme owner allows for more than one model?


- An overview of differences in claims, depending on the types of CoC used. These claims shall accurately reflect the type of CoC. For example: - Claims on origin can only be made under Identity preserved - Claims on 100% certified material require Segrega-tion - When Mass Balance or Controlled Blending is used, claims need to show that mixing is allowed - When Certificate Trading (Book & Claim) is al-lowed, "supports sustainable production" (or simi-lar) is an adequate claim "Not applicable" if: - Product label - Only use of one CoC model



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D.2.04 Tracking mechanism

Are claims and label us-ers required to use unique license numbers or other tracking mech-anisms?


--> Not applicable if no claims are made regarding the origin of certain ingredients or products (CoC is required). '- A visible mechanism to be used by label and claims users which provides the ability to trace back the product to its origins. Schemes may distinguish be-tween COC-numbers to be applied on claims and logo license numbers to be applied when labels are used.


D.2.05 Accurate use of claims

Does the scheme owner require surveillance of the accurate use of claims and labels in the market, including a complaints mechanism to report misuse?

No / Yes Either of the following: - Clearly defined activities pursued to make sure la-bels and claims are used accurately - A complaints mechanism that allows stakeholders to report the false use of labels and claims


D.2.06 Stepwise claims

Does the scheme re-quire different claims depending on the per-centage of certified / verified content in a product?


- A statement in its claims policy that different per-centage requirements of certified inputs require ac-curate labelling, reflecting these differences Not applicable if: - Claim does not refer to product inputs/single ingre-dients but to the whole/ final product


D.2.07 Minimum % input claims

What is the minimum percentage of a

0-49% / 50-74% / 75-94% / 95-

- A written statement on the minimum percentage requirements in a single-ingredient product

ISEAL Claims


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certified / verified input in a single ingredient product for a claim to be allowed for that product?

100% / not specified / not applicable

'No' if: - No evidence of minimum percentages even though missing is allowed Not applicable if: - Claim does not refer to product inputs/single ingre-dients but to the whole/ final product or if % claims are not included in system

Guide 2.5.1, 2.1.3

D.2.08 Minimum % composite product claims

What is the minimum percentage of certified / verified material in a composite product for a claim to be allowed for that product?

0-20% / 21-50% / 51-74% / 75-100% / not specified / not applicable

- A written statement on the minimum percentage requirements in a composite product 'No' if: - No evidence of minimum percentages even though missing is allowed Not applicable if: - Claim does not refer to product inputs/single ingre-dients but to the whole/ final product or if % claims are not included in system


D.2.09 Graphic label explanatory statement

Is the label accompa-nied by an explanatory text claim or a link to further information?


Either of the following: - A short text next to the logo explaining some detail about the label - A QR code, link or any other form of additional in-formation which helps to understand the label Not applicable if: - No graphic labels are used

D.2.10 Consequences of misuse of claims

Does the scheme have a procedure that defines

No / Yes - Statement/policy that defines what happens if mis-use is discovered

ISEAL Claims


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specific consequences of misuse of claims?

This question also relates to fraudulent claim use.

Guide 3.3, 3.4

ssct glaubwürdigkeitskriterien / ssct credibility criteria

Documents