Binding Documents

Binding Documents are a set of standards, policies and rules that are applicable to different actors in the Rainforest Alliance’s programs, depending on the type of activity the actor is engaged in, as set forth in an organization's license agreement with the Rainforest Alliance.

These Binding Documents include the following documents and categories of rules: License Agreement Terms and Conditions, certification standards and rules, traceability rules, labeling rules, and online platform terms and conditions.* Additional guidelines can be found in our Help Center.

*Note: All actors that are part of either cocoa program and any actors interested in using the new Rainforest Alliance seal must also sign a License Agreement (2020 Version) with Rainforest Alliance.

Binding Documents by type

Certification Binding Documents

Certification Program

Farms and companies certified to the following standard can find applicable binding documents:

Additional Binding Documents

Labels & Traceability

Farms and companies that are selling, labeling or claiming products as Rainforest Alliance Certified or using the Rainforest Marks can find applicable binding documents by clicking the following links:

Terms & Conditions

All resources for Binding Documents

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Forms and Templates

Certification Application Form (CAF)

The Certification Application Form (CAF) is a mandatory document to be filled out by Certificate Holders and Certification Bodies along the Certification Process of the Sustainable Agriculture... View more


Available in: English, Portuguese, French, Chinese (Simplified), Indonesian, Spanish, Turkish, Vietnamese

Policies and rules

License Renewal During Rainforest Alliance Review Years

SA-P-GA-31-V1

This policy offers guidance on the license renewal process for the Rainforest Alliance review. As we work to simplify this process, the policy will be subject to change.... View more


Available in: English

Annex

Annex S16: Sustainability Investment Plan Template

The Sustainability Investment Plan Template is to identify the investments needed to implement the Rainforest Alliance 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard requirements.

Exceptional use:... View more


Available in: English, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Japanese, Vietnamese, Chinese (Simplified), Indonesian, Turkish

Policies and rules

The Investment Plan Template for the Tea Sector

This policy mandates a change to the requirement to use RA-S-MT-17-V1.1 Annex S16: Sustainability Investment Plan Template by Certificate Holders producing tea (Camelia sinensis) under Rainforest... View more


Available in: English

Policies and rules

Policy on Measures to Address Shortages of Rainforest Alliance Certified Volumes During the Certification Cycle

In cases where there are significant restrictions to available volumes of Rainforest Alliance Certified commodities, the Rainforest Alliance will consider requests to pre-authorize a percentage of new... View more


Available in: English, Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese (Simplified), German, Turkish, French, Italian, Vietnamese, Japanese, Indonesian