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Guidance for Working with the Rainforest Alliance Mass Balance Sourcing Program

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Guidance for Working with the Rainforest Alliance Mass Balance Sourcing Program JULY 2020 Guidance for Working with the Rainforest Alliance Mass Balance Sourcing Program Companies are encouraged to maintain fully segregated ferred from the farm certificate holder to the first buyer (for -ex supply chains whenever possible, as this is the best way to ample via the issue of the first transaction certificate) and may achieve full traceability from farm to end-product and to be handled with mass balance processing from that point. All link product contents to origin. But because full segregation companies that take physical possession and/or legal own- isn’t possible for all commodity supply chains, the Mass ership of a product originating from a Rainforest Alliance Cer- Balance Sourcing Program was created. This will enable tified™ farm and make promotional, on-pack or sales claims manufacturers, brands, and retailers to support the field (for example, business to business claims) regarding the certi- impacts of certification without the need to change man- fied status of these products must comply with the Rainforest ufacturing processes to comply with the requirements of Alliance Chain of Custody (CoC) standard and policy. segregation. CoC is the process of verifying a product’s handling from a The Rainforest Alliance Mass Balance Sourcing Program is certified farm through the various stages of manufacturing available only for specific commodities, which are refer- and processing to assure the end consumer that the claims enced in the Appendix to this Guidance document. If your made about the certified product are true. The Rainforest Al- company is only selling segregated certified materials, this liance CoC Standard requires that a credible management document does not apply. The key requirements of the Rain- system and traceability is in place from this point in the sup- forest Alliance Mass Balance Sourcing Program are as follows: ply chain onward to ensure the equivalent volumes of certi- fied materials can be transferred/processed. When operating a mass balance system, there are a few differences in CoC Governance implementation that are outlined in Appendix 1. General / Scope Operator Scope In compliance with the Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Agri- Mass Balance Sourcing Program operators must comply with culture Standard for farms and farm groups, eligible certified the CoC policy. They can choose to manage the require- commodities must be segregated until responsibility is trans- ments at a single site or multi-site level. The multi-site certifi- 1 cate has no geographic restrictions in its scope. To qualify for conversion ratios. Similarly, orange juice soluble solids can be a global multi-site certificate, the operator’s sites must be un- converted to Frozen Concentrate Orange Juice (FCOJ) or Not der a central administration and use the same management From Concentrate (NFC) products, but once there is a TC for system. They must also be CoC certified under one multi-site NFC then that volume can no longer be converted to FCOJ certificate with the same Certification Body. solids but must be used for NFC products only. If a site has Rainforest Alliance’s single-site CoC certification, For all mass balance crops, origin matching for materials or single-site mass balance accounting will be required. Trans- products is only required if the seller wishes to make a claim actions between single site CoC certificates, even within the regarding the country of origin of that product on pack or in same company must always relate to changes of physical sales, marketing, or promotional materials. For example, if an possession or legal ownership. Within a multi-site CoC certif- orange juice bottle claims to source its orange juice from Bra- icate, mass balance credit volumes may be transferred be- zil and Mexico, then the operator must buy certified orange tween sites with or without an accompanying legal or physi- juice with TCs from producers in these origin countries in ap- cal change of ownership. proximately (within 10 percent margin of error) the same pro- portions as in the recipe for the product. Mass Balance Accounting If no origin claim is made, the source country on the Trans- action Certificates may differ from the physical origin of the Traceability product as a result of mixing. The country stated on the TC in- dicates the country where a volume of ingredient equivalent All sales and shipment transactions of mass balance materi- to the volume used to produce the product was purchased als or products claimed as Rainforest Alliance Certified must from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms. be reported to the Rainforest Alliance using our online system, Marketplace 2.0. At minimum, all sales conducted during a Avoiding Double Counting for Multi-Certified Materials calendar quarter must be registered in Marketplace 2.0 within 30 days of the end of that quarter. If a batch of certified material is purchased from a farm that has more than one sustainability certification (e.g. Rainforest Mass balance credits are valid for a maximum of three years. Alliance and Fairtrade), then the equivalent volume of mate- If sales exceed purchases, these must be covered with suffi- rial can be sold forward with both certifications attached to cient purchases of certified inputs by the end of the quarter in the batch. However, the two certifications may not be sepa- order to issue Transaction Certificates (TCs) for that quarter. rated and applied to two separate batches of material, each equivalent in volume to the original purchase, as this would Product Recipe and Origin Matching be considered double accounting. Volumes entered in Mar- ketplace 2.0 as Rainforest Alliance credits and sold under an When using mass balance, transaction certificates (TCs) for alternative scheme must be recorded in Marketplace as “Sold purchases of the certified ingredients should reflect the reci- as non RAC.” pe of the product. For example, if the formulation for a choco- late product is 30 percent cocoa butter and 70 percent cocoa For example, if an operator has purchased 100 MT of cocoa powder, TCs should be purchased for these certified ingredi- powder made from beans grown on a farm that has both ents in the same proportions. It is not possible to convert or Rainforest Alliance and Fairtrade certification, the company substitute TCs unless this reflects the processing that has tak- cannot sell forward 100 MT of Rainforest Alliance Certified co- en place or could take place e.g. cocoa powder TCs cannot coa powder and 100 MT of Fairtrade certified cocoa powder. be converted to cocoa butter TCs, but cocoa bean TCs may Instead, the total volume of cocoa powder that can be sold be converted to cocoa powder or butter using the standard forward as certified (Rainforest Alliance and/or Fairtrade) 2 from that batch must not exceed 100 MT. The Rainforest Alli- ance is working closely with other certifications to avoid dou- ble counting of certified materials, and this will be carefully checked during CoC audits. [CROP] or SOURCING Conversion Ratios [CROP] SOURCING If a user wishes to convert mass balance credits to allow them to be used for further processed materials (for example from cocoa beans to liquor, or from cocoa liquor to powder and butter) then they must use the conversion ratios set out Sample explanatory statement: “We purchase a volume of per crop below. It is not possible for credits to be converted [name of commodity] from Rainforest Alliance and/or UTZ backwards (e.g. from cocoa liquor to beans) or in any other certified farms equivalent to the volume used in this product. manner inconsistent with actual processing conversions. De- For more, see: www.companyname.com/[crop- sourcing] or tails of the specific ratios per crop are provided in the appen- www.ra.org/mb.” dices. In the case of orange juice products, the original yield at first extraction will determine the number of soluble solids Design Specifications available for the different products, NFC or FCOJ. Once these solids are converted via a TC to FCOJ for example, then the As with other on-pack uses, the seal must 1) be no smaller mass balance credits going forward will only be valid for FCOJ than 19 mm wide; 2) be produced in Pantone 625 green, black products and cannot be converted to NFC. & white, or reversed white printed on a dark background; and 3) include a clear space equal to 20 percent of the seal’s width around it to avoid encroachment by other graphics or Labelling, Claims, and Use of Trademarks text. The explanatory statement elsewhere on pack must be printed in a font size that is sufficiently legible and clear. *Note that this section is applicable to uses of the pre-2020 Rainforest Alliance Certified seal. The new 2020 Rainforest Volume Equivalencies Alliance seal must be used according to the Rainforest Al- liance Labeling & Trademarks Policy, 2020 edition, including Mass balance-based products can only use the Rainforest for mass balance sourcing. Alliance Certified seal on packaging if purchases of Rainforest Alliance Certified and/or UTZ certified inputs are equivalent to General 100 percent of the ingredient in the recipe requirement of the SKU; this means that a volume of certified material equiva- As with all trademark users, companies should register in lent to 100 percent of the SKU’s material content for the spec- Marketplace 2.0, obtain a License Agreement, and ensure ified commodity must be purchased from Rainforest Alliance their traceability information is updated prior to the use of Certified farms and a Marketplace TC must be available to any Rainforest Alliance trademarks. document this transaction, or from UTZ certified farms doc- umented with traceability in the Good Inside Portal (GIP) or Any public use of the Rainforest Alliance trademarks and ac- MultiTrace.
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