Certification Bodies & Auditors

who are authorized to audit against our sustainable agriculture standard

The Rainforest Alliance is opening a new authorization process for Certification Bodies (CBs) in Japan. Certification bodies that are approved during this process will be authorized to conduct Rainforest Alliance Certification audits in their respective countries and will be able to request scope extensions for additional countries in the future.

Certification bodies must meet the following conditions to apply for authorization:

  1. The CB must have a physical office in the country for which they are applying.
  2. The CB must have local certifier and lead auditors (for Supply Chain and Farms) that will meet the requirements of Chapter 2 of the Rules for Certification Bodies version 1.2 by the end of the authorization process.

CBs interested in applying for authorization in Japan must express their interest to cbmanagement@ra.org no later than September 30th, 2023.

Interested CBs will receive further information about how the authorization process works and how to apply.

Quick Links

2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard: Farm Requirements

The Farm Requirements of our new Sustainable Agriculture Standard are designed to help farmers protect the landscapes where they live and work, while offering an enhanced framework to improve their livelihoods and advance the human rights of rural people.

2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard: Supply Chain Requirements

The Sustainable Agriculture Standard’s Supply Chain Requirements aim to foster transparency and responsible business practices among companies from farm to shelf.

2020 Rules for Certification Bodies

The audit and certification services rendered under the Assurance System maintain and ensure a general sense of purpose as well as a commitment to high quality.

2020 Certification and Auditing Rules

The Assurance System of the 2020 Certification Program introduces numerous innovations to ensure that certification is more context-specific, data-driven, and risk-based.

Must-read resources for certification bodies

FAQ: 2020 Assurance Program

Detailed information about the assurance system used in the Rainforest Alliance's 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard.

Help Center

All resources for Certification Bodies & Auditors

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Guidance for the Certification Cost Transparency Tool

This guidance contains detailed instructions to complete the certification cost transparency tool. The tool is mandatory for all certification offers made to farm Certificate Holders by Certification Bodies in Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana.

Guidance
May 7, 2021

Stakeholder Consultation Letter

The Stakeholder Consultation Letter explains the process of a stakeholder consultation previous to an audit, when it is considered there is high risk of child labor, forced labor, freedom of association or labor rights violations. We request that the Certification Bodies consult stakeholders that are relevant to the matter to best understand the local context.

Guidance
April 20, 2021

Indicator and Monitoring Framework

The Rainforest Alliance Indicator and monitoring framework for the 2020 Certification Program gives a complete overview of the level one and level two indicators that we use to measure the impact of our work. These indicators are the expression of our Theory of Change.

Resource item
February 18, 2021

Theory of Change

This diagram presents our organization’s intended outcomes and impacts and describes the mechanisms through which we aim to achieve them. It shows the different and interconnected ways in which the Rainforest Alliance’s 2020 Certification Program components interact to promote change both in the short and in the medium and long term. It illustrates how the […]

Resource item
February 18, 2021