PALMOILMAGAZINE, KUALA LUMPUR – The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) has responded to the recent report titled “In The Shadow of Palm Oil” by the Christian Initiative Romero (CIR), as well as complaints published by Foodwatch and the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), which involved certain RSPO members, including NaturAceites and certified smallholders’ members. RSPO has acknowledged the growing concern among stakeholders throughout the supply chain.
The RSPO Secretariat has assured stakeholders that they have taken necessary actions to review the allegations outlined in the reports, in collaboration with the audit quality and RSPO assurance processes. The RSPO Secretariat will work closely with the members involved to gain a comprehensive understanding of the situation.
According to RSPO’s official statement, the RSPO certification process is one of several systems implemented to ensure that certified members adhere to all standards. Independent auditors and third parties play crucial roles in confirming the credibility of RSPO standards through the certification process.
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It means, to prevent conflict of interests, the allocation or RSPO certification revocation would not be conducted by RSPO but independent certification board. Survey institutions that offered RSPO certification services should be accredited by independent Assurance Body, Assurance Services International (ASI).
The independent check and balance system were developed to confirm that certification process would remain fair and not partisanship.
Certification board that conducted RSPO audit in 2023 which was written on the report, was no longer accredited to conduct audit based on Principles and Criteria RSPO 2018 (P&C RSPO 2018) because of voluntary reduction on its accreditation by ASI in August 2023. NaturAceites informed RSPO Secretariat that they recruited other certification boards (Control Union) and got the initiative to accelerate annual audit for the locations involved.
RSPO is committed to transparency and accountability. The significant part of the objective process is independent complaint panel that consists of advance individuals from stakeholders’ groups (including the civil). RSPO complaint panel can investigate if the complaint was proposed and accepted in RSPO complaint system. Until now, there was no complaint to RSPO in association with the allegation in Guatemala or Honduras that the report mentioned.
RSPO Secretariat also has good contact with ASI to make sure that there would be right independent monitoring on audit process. RSPO invited the related parties to deliver official complaint to RSPO complaint system.
RSPO keeps monitoring the case closely with the goal – to escalate guarantee process if needed and to confirm that palm oil products were produced responsibly and sustainably based on RSPO standards. (T2)
