RSPO Principes en Criteria (P&C) Certificering

Wie is een stakeholder?

An individual or group with a legitimate and/or demonstrable interest in, or who is directly affected by, the activities of the unit of certification (e.g. palm oil plantation being audited) and the consequences of those activities. SCS Global Services Europe B.V. weighs the comments received from stakeholders outside the local region of operations differently from those stakeholders located directly adjacent to, or nearby the operational area.  We will sometimes refer to the latter as directly affected stakeholders. SCS Global Services Europe B.V. will generally place greater weight on their comments, than those received from groups based internationally, or nationally but in a city outside the zone of influence of the operations.

We would like to take this opportunity to clarify SCS Global Services Europe B.V.’s role in the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) Principles and Criteria (P&C) Certification process. In so doing, we also aim to identify how stakeholders and civil society groups can best constructively engage in and be informed of the RSPO Principles and Criteria Certification process.

SCS Global Services Europe B.V. is a Neutral Third Party, Honest Broker of Information

SCS Global Services Europe B.V. is a certification body, an independent entity that operates under the guidelines set by the standard owners and according to set protocols for how our work is to be conducted.  In the case of RSPO, Certification Bodies are guided principally by ISO/IEC 17021-1 Requirements for Bodies Providing Audit and Certification of Management Systems and the RSPO Systems Document, which together, provide the framework for how we conduct our work. SCS Global Services Europe B.V.’s scope of work is limited to assessing the unit of certification’s compliance with the RSPO Principles and Criteria. The assessment (a.k.a. audit) covers legal, environmental, economic, workers’ health and safety, and social aspects as required by the RSPO Principles & Criteria.

SCS Global Services Europe B.V. recognizes that some stakeholders may feel that RSPO standards are insufficient to fully address and remediate the environmental and social issues of the palm oil industry. As a neutral third party and honest broker of information, it is not the role of SCS Global Services Europe B.V. to hold a position on the standard or advocate for changes to it, except for asking for interpretations when requirements are not clear. The RSPO’s theory of change is that once a company engages in the certification process, it will necessarily drive continuous improvement within the company, due to increased oversight and by the standard itself gradually raising the bar of sustainability for those companies that participate in it.  SCS Global Services Europe B.V. subscribes to this belief.

SCS Global Services Europe B.V.’s Role in Certification Audits

Onze rol is het beoordelen van de palmplantage-/molenactiviteiten van de klant aan de hand van de RSPO Principes en Criteriawaarin de vereisten voor het verkrijgen van certificering zijn vastgelegd. We beoordelen palmplantages met bezoeken ter plaatse, voeren gesprekken met de juiste mensen, zoeken naar input van belanghebbenden, schrijven rapporten over de bevindingen, nemen waar nodig corrigerende maatregelen en beoordelen de bevindingen aan de hand van de vereisten van de standaard om de certificering vast te stellen.

Belanghebbenden zijn een cruciaal onderdeel van Auditing

SCS Global Services Europe B.V. relies upon and appreciates information provided to us by the NGO and Civil Society community. Stakeholders are invited to provide comments on the social and environmental impacts of the unit of certification via email, WhatsApp, phone, or in-person meetings. If you wish your comments to be treated confidentiality or remain anonymous, please indicate this to SCS Global Services Europe B.V.. Generally, comments received within 30 days from the date of notification are considered during the certification audit.

Het meest bruikbare auditbewijs is in de meeste gevallen informatie die specifiek is (bijvoorbeeld een verslag uit de eerste hand van een incident, inclusief locatie en datum) en verifieerbaar (bijvoorbeeld bevestigd door documentatie, foto's, andere partijen). Beschuldigingen van overtredingen van de RSPO-normen die gebaseerd zijn op anekdotisch bewijs zonder documentair bewijs, zijn over het algemeen minder nuttig om vast te stellen dat de norm niet wordt nageleefd. Hoewel alle geïnteresseerde partijen worden uitgenodigd om opmerkingen in te dienen, vooral degenen die al eerder in de regio hebben gewerkt, wegen we de opmerkingen van direct betrokken belanghebbenden (d.w.z. degenen die lokaal gevestigd zijn in het gebied van de operationele locatie) zwaarder dan de opmerkingen van indirect betrokken belanghebbenden. 

Belanghebbenden informeren en betrekken bij RSPO P&C-audits

Stakeholders can learn about upcoming audits on RSPO’s Principles and Criteria Assessment Public Announcement webpage. Per RSPO requirements, SCS Global Services Europe B.V. sends the RSPO Secretariat a copy of the announcement at least five days before the scheduled public announcement (i.e., one month and five days) for posting. The announcement, available in official national languages, includes details on the entity(ies) to be audited, their location(s), the dates of audit, contact details for both the company and SCS Global Services Europe B.V. and instructions for providing comments to SCS Global Services Europe B.V..

When SCS Global Services Europe B.V. identifies operations with greater complexity, we have also taken additional measures to support stakeholder consultation, including placing advertisements in local media (e.g., newspaper, radio), posting bulletins in local community centers, and spending additional time during community stakeholder meetings to build trust with community members. SCS Global Services Europe B.V. recognizes the importance for all stakeholders to have sufficient time to provide comments and makes considerable efforts to ensure that is the case. If there are additional comments that were missed during an audit, we welcome stakeholders to submit them outside of a formal meeting directly to our auditors via WhatsApp or by email to SCS Global Services Europe B.V. headquarters.

While SCS Global Services Europe B.V. makes every effort to visit with and hear from as many stakeholders as possible, it is not always possible to visit with all communities and groups during every audit.  Nevertheless, SCS Global Services Europe B.V. seeks to ensure that as much as possible, representative groups are consulted (i.e., chiefs, elders, opinion leaders, women groups, and youth leaders). In particular, people who can speak to relevant issues based on direct knowledge and experience with the issues are targeted for consultation.

Any complaints are thoroughly documented, and any concerns raised are thoroughly investigated during the audit. If there is any specific and verifiable evidence related to groups or persons that SCS Global Services Europe B.V. did not interview, we welcome that information so we can look into it during the next surveillance audit.

We zetten ons in voor een betrokken en positieve relatie met de NGO's en het maatschappelijk middenveld, maar kunnen ons vanwege beperkte middelen niet verplichten om altijd alle belanghebbenden te informeren wanneer er beslissingen worden genomen over de RSPO-certificering.