Policy on the transition period to the 2020 Certification System for Banana certificate holders

The 2020 Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Agriculture Standard will become binding on July 1, 2021 for all crops. Certificate holders will have until June 30, 2022 to undertake their first audit to this standard. During this transition period Farm level Certificate Holders will be required to comply only with the Core Requirements of the standard. After a successful audit they will be issued with a Transition Certificate valid for one year. The purpose of this transition period is to allow certificate holders enough time to put in place the required systems and capacities to comply with the requirements of the new standard. Following the transition year Farm level Certificate Holders will be audited against the full set of applicable requirements in the Standard and begin a three-year certification cycle.