In the UEBT/Rainforest Alliance Herbs & Spices Program the following standards apply to farms and supply chain actors.
- For farm certification: in general, the UEBT/Rainforest Alliance requirements compiled in a Field Checklist apply. There are several exceptions when farms certified against the Rainforest Alliance 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard instead.
- For supply chain certification: the Rainforest Alliance 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard’s Supply Chain Requirements apply to companies buying from certified farms.
Farm-level certification
The farm certification in the new Herbs & Spices Program is based primarily on the UEBT standard (revised in July 2020). This standard has been complemented with selected requirements from the Rainforest Alliance 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard. Together, these make up the UEBT/Rainforest Alliance requirements. For practical purposes, these requirements are described in a Field Checklist (published in January 2021) and a Certification Checklist, based on the Certification Protocol (published in March 2021).
Auditing against the UEBT/Rainforest Alliance requirements is mandatory for herbs, spices, rooibos, and other herbal tea ingredients, with the exceptions described below. To help you find out whether the UEBT/Rainforest Alliance requirements or the Rainforest Alliance 2020 Standard applies for your farm, we have developed a decision tree.
Exception 1 – Cultivation together with other Rainforest Alliance Certified crops
- For farms that are cultivating herbs, spices, rooibos or other herbal tea ingredients together with coffee, cocoa, tea, fruit, nuts, flowers, vegetables or palm oil, and that wish to use the Rainforest Alliance trademarks and claims for these crops, certification against the Rainforest Alliance 2020 Standard applies. This certification covers all crops cultivated on the farm, including herbs, spices, rooibos and other herbal tea ingredients. Please note, that this excludes wild collection. For wild collection, an additional certification against the UEBT/Rainforest Alliance requirements is always required in order to use the Rainforest Alliance trademark and claims.
- For farms that are also cultivating coffee, cocoa, tea, fruits, nuts, flowers, vegetables or palm oil, but do not wish to use the Rainforest Alliance trademarks and claims for these crops, UEBT/Rainforest Alliance requirements apply. This UEBT/Rainforest Alliance certification covers all herbs, spices, rooibos and other herbal tea ingredients cultivated on the farm (but no other crops). It also covers wild collection.
Exception 2 – Cultivation of chili or pepper (Piper nigrum)
- Farms that are cultivating chili or pepper (piper nigrum) without any other Rainforest Alliance Certified crop (such as coffee, cocoa, tea, fruit, flowers, nuts, vegetables, or palm oil) may choose between certification against the UEBT/Rainforest Alliance requirements or against the Rainforest Alliance 2020 Standard.
If the certificate holder choses UEBT/Rainforest Alliance certification, the certificate covers chili and pepper as well as all other herbs, spices, rooibos and herbal tea ingredients, both cultivated and collected from the wild.
If the certificate holder chooses the Rainforest Alliance 2020 Certification Program, the certificate covers all crops cultivated on the farm, but no wild collection. For wild collection, a UEBT/Rainforest Alliance certification is always required.
- If the farm cultivates other crops in addition to chili or pepper (such as coffee, cocoa, tea, fruit, flowers, nuts, vegetables or palm oil) and wishes to sell these crops with the Rainforest Alliance trademarks or claims, certification against the Rainforest Alliance 2020 Standard applies for all crops cultivated on the farm. In the case of wild collection, an additional UEBT/Rainforest Alliance certification is always required in order to use the Rainforest Alliance trademark and claims.
Supply chain certification
All supply chain actors sourcing products certified as part of the new Herbs & Spices Program are required to be certified against the Rainforest Alliance 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard’s Supply Chain Requirements.
The supply chain actors need to register with Rainforest Alliance here.
The Rainforest Alliance has expanded the scope of certification to include retailers that are driving the request for purchasing Rainforest Alliance Certified products, sold under their own brand name or as non-branded products. These retailers are required to register and obtain certification to show compliance with the Supply Chain Requirements of the 2020 Standard. For more information click here.
Your next steps and contacts
If your farm is audited against the UEBT/Rainforest Alliance requirements, you need to contact UEBT at certification@uebt.org.
If your farm is audited against the Rainforest Alliance 2020 Standard, you need to register online with the Rainforest Alliance here. Contact us at customersupport@ra.org in case of questions.
If you are a supply chain actor, you need to be audited against the Rainforest Alliance 2020 Standard. You need to register online with the Rainforest Alliance here. Contact us at customersupport@ra.org in case of questions.
For more information about the Herbs & Spices Program and FAQ, please visit this webpage: Herbs & Spices Program: Joint Rainforest Alliance and UEBT Certification.
