RTRS swift progress –new decisions Executive Board on key elements
About to achieve a major milestone by bringing years of consensus seeking dialogue into practice, the RTRS Executive Board (EB) had a meeting in Buenos Aires on the 19th and 20th of October. At the meeting the EB evaluated the progress of preparations being made, and it took new decisions in the stepwise process the RTRS Secretariat and all the different working groups involved are going through. This letter is meant to inform you on the main elements that resulted from the successful meeting in Buenos Aires and progress in general in order to fulfill the promise announced after the General Assembly held in June of this year, namely to facilitate the availability of soy certified RTRS for the market at the beginning of 2011.
Certification and verification mechanism
The certification and verification mechanism is in place and the first certification bodies have applied for RTRS accreditation in order for them to be able to certify and audit those producers that decide to implement the RTRS scheme. As soon as the first certification bodies receive green light to do so, producers will be able to contract these providers in order to adopt and validate their production methods to the RTRS standard.
Non-GM module for Chain of Custody
The Chain of Custody Working Group (CoC WG) successfully created the RTRS model for the physical flow of RTRS certified soy. The Executive Board approved the formulated chain of custody model, containing the following modules:
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Module A |
Mass Balance |
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Module B |
Segregation |
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Module C |
Multisite |
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Module E |
Non GM |
An important new element – besides the key mass balance and segregation modules – is the possibility to purchase RTRS + Non GM certified soy. For several of the RTRS members this is an important aspect in order for RTRS certified soy to have value for their operations. With the Non GM module it is possible to deliver products containing Non GM soy to their customers, besides being supportive of the key objective of the RTRS to generate a positive impact in the level of responsibility being practiced in the cultivation of soy in general (be it Non GM, conventional or organic).
Levy RTRS Chain of Custody model
A third important element to facilitate the near future trading in RTRS certified soy is the IT Platform that will provide the necessary mechanisms for this. The Platform will have a range of functionalities, amongst others of a:
-Certificate Trading Platform for the selling and buying of certificates that represent a certain amount of RTRS certified soy, at which the physical sourcing of soy is separated from the trading of the certificates. This option has several advantages, amongst others to include producing countries that do not (or to a low extend) count with a physical flow to markets where sourcing of sustainable products have an added value. From the demand side this creates the opportunity to support soy production of for example small scale producer countries like India and Bolivia which normally do not have the possibility to be linked because of logistical complexity of worldwide soy flows. On the other hand, as production of certified soy in significant amounts on a global scale might take some time, this mechanism is an opportunity for the demand side to purchase credits which support responsible production in origin.
-Certificate management, organizing the flow of certified soy between the producer and the consumer/end user in for example a European country, including the former mentioned mass balance, segregation and Non-GM modules as claim models structured by the platform.
For the functioning of the IT Platform and in order to generate income to cover RTRS Secretariat operational costs, a levy has been agreed on. For each ton of certified soy that goes through the IT Platform a levy of 0,30 Euro will be charged. This 0,30 Euro does not include certification costs for the producer, neither is it related to possible premiums as used at other initiatives like similar to the RTRS. Possible premiums are to be established between the buyer and producer of RTRS certified soy.
Other news items
With the task of creating a so called Progressive entry level for the RTRS production standard certification, the balanced multi-stakeholder working group that was asked by the EB to do so presented the results at the meeting in Buenos Aires. With some minor changes included, the EB approved the proposal, consisting of a certification method which makes it more accessible for mainly small scale producers to be included. The approval of the generic Progressive entry level for the RTRS production standard certification document (Progressive entry level for the RTRS production standard certification) will be send to the different national interpretations technical groups for its conversion to the national levels. More details can be obtained at the Secretariat or future accredited Certification Bodies.
Additionally a project proposal was put together by ProForest in order to start the process for High Conservation Value Area (HCVA) mapping in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay, an objective the RTRS committed itself to as to create a multi stakeholder solution by the year 2012. The proposal was presented to a number of possible donors in order to create budget for successful execution of the project.
Finally, in a press release last Monday Arla Netherlands (www.arla.nl) - a dairy company - announced that in 2011 of the soy it purchases 50% will be RTRS certified. This first announcement of commitment is very good news for the RTRS, and is expected to be a signal for others to soon follow the example. With messages like these from the market, many producers are expected to convert its production to RTRS certified soy.
