The Rainforest Alliance has announced a public consultation for the development of a cocoa-specific version of our Sustainable Agriculture Standard. We invite cocoa farmers, cooperatives, companies, traders, certification bodies, civil society organizations, governments, and other stakeholders to provide feedback on the proposed requirements when the consultation opens on August 11, 2026. The main public consultation window will run through October 13, 2026.
This consultation is a critical step in the standard development process—helping to ensure that the proposed standard is practical, globally applicable, and responsive to the evolving challenges facing the cocoa sector.
To support transparency, credibility, and technical rigor, the standard development process is designed with the aim of aligning with the ISEAL Code of Good Practice.
Why are we developing a cocoa-specific version of our Sustainable Agriculture Standard?
In 2025, the Rainforest Alliance streamlined the requirements of our Sustainable Agriculture Standard (SAS) to make them more accessible and easier for farmers to implement. Now, we are taking the next step by developing the Sustainable Agriculture Standard-Cocoa (SAS-Cocoa), a certification solution tailored to the evolving needs of cocoa farmers and supply chain actors.
The proposed standard aims to replace existing cocoa requirements spread across multiple Rainforest Alliance country-specific policies, such as the cocoa policy for West and Central Africa. The result will be a more streamlined, cocoa-specific version of SAS with a stronger focus on sustainability challenges in the cocoa sector, while supporting alignment with evolving regulatory frameworks and market expectations.
Our commitment to robust requirements remains unchanged. The goal is to create a more focused and nuanced standard that supports cocoa farmers, their communities, and supply chain actors in building more resilient, productive, and transparent cocoa supply chains.
Key elements of the proposed standard
- A streamlined, cocoa-specific certification solution that brings together existing cocoa requirements into a single, crop-specific standard, making implementation and verification clearer and more efficient.
- A stronger focus on cocoa-sector challenges, including farm and group management, farmer support systems, traceability, geodata, deforestation, human rights risks (notably child labor and forced labor), livelihoods, and sustainable agricultural practices, such as soil health and integrated pest management.
- Alignment with evolving regulatory and market expectations, including the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), and European Union Forced Labor Regulation (EUFLR), the Empowering Consumers Directive (EmpCo), and the African Regional Standard 1000 (ARS 1000).
Child Labor Monitoring and Remediation Systems (CLMRS) assurance module
In addition to the proposed cocoa standard, the consultation covers a Child Labor Monitoring and Remediation Systems (CLMRS) assurance module. This is an optional add-on to the standard designed to help organizations strengthen the effectiveness, credibility, and transparency of their efforts to tackle the urgent and complex issue of child labor in cocoa supply chains.
Consultation timeline
- August 11 – October 13: First consultation window
- August 11: Global stakeholder webinar. Register for the webinar >
- August—September: In-person consultation sessions across key cocoa-producing countries
- December 2026—January 2027: Second consultation window
- First half of 2027: Publication of standard and summary of stakeholder feedback
- Further information will be shared as it becomes available.
For questions about the consultation process, please contact cocoa.consultation@ra.org.
