Herbs & Spices Program: A Joint Standard of UEBT and the Rainforest Alliance

Herbs & spices are used in a variety of foods, beverages, and flavorings and provide important income to farmers around the world. Now, the Rainforest Alliance and the Union for Ethical BioTrade (UEBT) have developed a joint Herbs & Spices Program. All ingredients certified under this new program will be able to carry the Rainforest Alliance Certified seal.

With this partnership, we build on the positive track record of the UEBT/UTZ cooperation in herbal tea, the decades-long experience of the Rainforest Alliance and UTZ in sustainable agriculture certification, and UEBT’s expert knowledge of ethical sourcing of ingredients from biodiversity, including those ingredients collected from the wild.

Program scope

The new UEBT/Rainforest Alliance Herbs & Spices Program brings together the current UEBT/UTZ Herbal Tea Program along with the UTZ and Rainforest Alliance certification programs for herbs, spices, rooibos, and vanilla. The new program applies to:

• All ingredients for herbal and fruit infusions, including rooibos
• Other herbs & spices, including vanilla, chili, or pepper

What standards apply, and for whom

In the new UEBT/Rainforest Alliance Herbs & Spices Program the following standards apply:

• For farm certification: in general, the UEBT/Rainforest Alliance requirements compiled in a Field Checklist apply (for exceptions, see below).
• For supply chain certification: the new Rainforest Alliance 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard’s Supply Chain Requirements apply for companies buying from certified farms.

Farm certification

The certification for farm certificate holders in the new Herbs & Spices Program is based primarily on the UEBT standard. This standard was designed for ingredients that are cultivated or collected from the wild. The revised UEBT standard was published in July 2020.

The UEBT standard is complemented by selected requirements from the new 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 (to be published in March 2021).

Auditing against the UEBT/Rainforest Alliance requirements will be mandatory for herbs, spices, rooibos, and other herbal tea ingredients, with the following exceptions:

• Farms that cultivate herbs, spices, rooibos as well as other herbal tea ingredients will not be required to have double certification if they also grow one or more of the following Rainforest Alliance Certified crops: coffee, cocoa, tea, banana, hazelnuts, and palm oil. It is sufficient for these farms to be certified against the Rainforest Alliance 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard.
• Where herbs, spices, rooibos and other herbal tea ingredients are cultivated in combination with fruit, vegetables or flowers, the farm can choose one certification. They will need to comply either with UEBT/Rainforest Alliance requirements or with the Rainforest Alliance 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard. Please note that the UEBT/Rainforest Alliance certification will only cover the rooibos, herbs, spices and herbal tea ingredients. If a farm wishes to also sell its fruit, vegetables and flowers with the Rainforest Alliance claims and seal, an additional certification against the Rainforest Alliance 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard is required.
• Chili and pepper (Piper nigrum) farms can also choose which requirements to be audited against: the UEBT/Rainforest Alliance requirements or the Rainforest Alliance 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard. Again, if a farm wishes to also sell any additional Rainforest Alliance Certified crops besides herbs, spices, herbal tea ingredients, or rooibos, an additional certification against the Rainforest Alliance 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard is required.

Please note that farm certificate holders that are collecting herbs, spices, or herbal tea ingredients from the wild will always be required to comply with the UEBT/RA requirements (because they are based on the UEBT standard that has criteria on wild collection) in order to use the Rainforest Alliance trademarks and claims.

Supply chain certification

For supply chain actors buying from certified farms, the 2020 Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Agriculture Standard’s Supply Chain Requirements will apply starting July 2021. Supply chain actors may start registering for the Rainforest Alliance 2020 Certification Program from mid-March 2021. They need to have registered by December 31, 2021.

Labeling and claims opportunities

All ingredients certified under the new UEBT/Rainforest Alliance Herbs & Spices Program will be able to carry the Rainforest Alliance Certified seal or UTZ certification label and/or be linked to the Rainforest Alliance or UTZ certification claims. For labeling and claims, the Rainforest Alliance Labeling and Trademarks Policy or the UTZ Labeling and Trademark Policy apply. Learn more about our mutual recognition program.

The Rainforest Alliance introduced a new certification seal in June 2020 which will replace the current Rainforest Alliance Certified seal and the UTZ label. Companies are welcome to submit labeling approval requests with the current Rainforest Alliance Certified seal or the UTZ label until December 31, 2022. Learn more about the timelines and phasing out of the current seal.

Certification and auditing rules

The rules for certification and audits against the UEBT/Rainforest Alliance requirements are described in the UEBT/Rainforest Alliance Certification Protocol. The protocol and accompanying checklist will be published in March 2021.

Traceability

Traceability for herbs & spices will be provided in the Rainforest Alliance’s digital platform, called MultiTrace. It will act as a single transactional system where farmers and companies will record all purchases and sales of the Rainforest Alliance and UEBT/Rainforest Alliance certified herbs & spices. We expect it to become available for herbs & spices certificate holders later in 2021. More information will follow.

Participation royalty

Currently, the Rainforest Alliance charges a royalty fee of €22.50 per MT for Rainforest Alliance Certified herbal tea ingredients including rooibos. A program fee of €22.50 per MT is also charged for UTZ certified herbal tea ingredients including rooibos.

For Rainforest Alliance Certified herbs & spices that are not part of an herbal infusion (such as table herbs, table spices, and seasoning mixes), currently no royalty is charged. For the time being, we will continue to waive the UTZ program fee for vanilla that is not part of a herbal tea product. However, we will be implementing royalties on herbs and spices, including vanilla, in the future and will inform you in due time when we will start collecting these.

Transition timelines

For farm certificate holders getting audited against UEBT/Rainforest Alliance Herbs & Spices requirements:

• January 2021: The Field Checklist that compiles the UEBT/Rainforest Alliance requirements for farms has been published.
• From January 2021: Farm certificate holders should begin to contact UEBT at herbsandspices@uebt.org to plan for their transition and/or future audits against the new UEBT/Rainforest Alliance Herbs & Spices requirements. 
• March 2021: Publication of the Certification Protocol that compiles certification and auditing rules of the UEBT/Rainforest Alliance Herbs & Spices Program. 
• From July 2021: Farm audits can begin against the new UEBT/Rainforest Alliance requirements.
• From January 2022: Auditing against the new UEBT/Rainforest Alliance requirements becomes mandatory for all farms that are in the scope of the Herbs & Spices Program (read section above to see who this applies to).

Should your current certificate expire between July and December 2021, please contact herbsandspices@ra.org by February 26 to discuss the timing of your audit.

For farm certificate holders getting audited against the Rainforest Alliance 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard:

• February 2021: Farm certificate holders may start registering with the Rainforest Alliance for the new program. Registration needs to be completed by December 31, 2021 at the latest.
• July 2021: The Rainforest Alliance 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard becomes mandatory. Certificate holders will only be required to comply with the core requirements of the 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard at this point. Following successful audits, certificate holders will receive a transition certificate that is valid for one year.
• July 2022: Certificate holders will be audited against the full set of applicable farm requirements. This will mark the beginning of the full-scale, three-year certification cycle, which requires annual surveillance audits.

Learn more about the timelines for transitioning to the 2020 certification program. To support certificate holders to move to the new Rainforest Alliance 2020 Program a Transition Tool has been developed to provide online, step-by-step guidance.

For supply chain actors:

• Mid-March 2021: Supply chain actors may start registering with Rainforest Alliance for the new program. Retailers may register from mid-April 2021. Registrations need to be completed by December 31, 2021.
• July 2021: The Rainforest Alliance 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard (Supply Chain Requirements) becomes mandatory. Supply chain actors can begin to receive desk audits to verify their base level of compliance with the new Supply Chain Requirements. Following successful completion of the desk audit, they will receive a transition certificate valid for one year. Some certificate holders may be eligible for an endorsement, which means they do not need to receive an audit but can apply for an endorsement to receive their Transition Certificate.
• July 2022: Supply chain actors can begin the three-year certification cycle. 

Learn more about the timelines for transitioning to the new standard. To support certificate holders with moving to the new Rainforest Alliance 2020 Program, a Transition Tool has been developed to provide online, step-by-step guidance.

Registration

• If your organization will be audited against the UEBT/Rainforest Alliance requirements, you will need to register with UEBT. Please contact UEBT at herbsandspices@uebt.org.
• If your organization will be audited against the Rainforest Alliance 2020 Standard, you will need to register with the Rainforest Alliance and the Rainforest Alliance Transition Rules will apply.

If you are unsure which certification requirements apply to you, please contact us at herbsandspices@ra.org or herbsandspices@uebt.org.

We are committed to making this a smooth transition for all our partners.

Frequently Asked Questions