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.* View additional business updates and information on the Knowledge Hub.
*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.
Farms and companies certified to the following standard can find applicable binding documents:
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:
Version 1.4 of the Sustainable Agriculture Standard, along with its supporting documents and the Certification and Auditing Rules, have been published on the Knowledge Hub.
The Sustainable Agriculture Standard’s Supply Chain Requirements aim to foster transparency and responsible business practices among companies from farm to shelf.
The Farm Requirements of our new Sustainable Agriculture Standard are designed to help farmers protect the landscapes where they live and work, while offering an enhanced framework to improve their livelihoods and advance the human rights of rural people.
SA-S-SD-19 This annex includes additional binding content related to the implementation of the Requirements in Chapter 1 of the Sustainable Agriculture Standard: Management. This document includes: Collecting Geolocation Data (Previous Annex S17) (Related to requirements 1.2.12 and 1.2.13) When the Standards V1.3 was published on February 6th 2023, the content of this document remained unchanged.
SA-S-SD-20 This annex includes additional binding content related to the implementation of the Requirements in Chapter 2 of the Sustainable Agriculture Standard: Traceability. This document includes: Traceability (Previous Annex S06) (Related to requirements 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3) The new version (v1.2) was published in order to add that mass balance is now permitted for cashews […]
SA-S-SD-21 This annex includes additional binding content related to the implementation of the Requirements in Chapter 3 of the Sustainable Agriculture Standard: Shared Responsibility. This document includes: Shared Responsibility (Previous Annex S14) (Related to requirements 3.2 and 3.3) This updated version of Annex Chapter 3 was published in order to clarify that for bananas and […]
SA-S-SD-22 This annex includes additional binding content related to the implementation of the Requirements in Chapter 4 of the Sustainable Agriculture Standard: Farming. This document includes: Pesticides Management (Previous Annex S07) (Related to requirements 4.5.7, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.6.7 and 5.6.1) When the Standards v1.3 was published on February 6th, 2023, the content of this document […]