In the new UEBT/Rainforest Alliance Herbs & Spices Program the following standards apply to farms and supply chain actors.
- For farm certification: in general, the UEBT/Rainforest Alliance requirements compiled in a Field Checklist apply. There are several exceptions when farms will be certified against the Rainforest Alliance 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard instead.
- For supply chain certification: the new Rainforest Alliance 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard’s Supply Chain Requirements apply to companies buying from certified farms.
Farm-level certification
The farm certification in the new Herbs & Spices Program is based primarily on the UEBT standard (revised in July 2020). This standard has been complemented with 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 exceptions described below. To help you find out whether the UEBT/Rainforest Alliance requirements or the Rainforest Alliance 2020 Standard applies for your farm, we have developed a decision tree.
Exception 1 – Cultivation together with other Rainforest Alliance Certified crops
- For farms that are cultivating herbs, spices, rooibos or other herbal tea ingredients together with coffee, cocoa, tea, fruit, nuts, flowers, vegetables or palm oil, and that wish to use the Rainforest Alliance trademarks and claims for these crops, certification against the Rainforest Alliance 2020 Standard applies. This certification covers all crops cultivated on the farm, including herbs, spices, rooibos and other herbal tea ingredients. Please note, that this excludes wild collection. For wild collection, an additional certification against the UEBT/Rainforest Alliance requirements is always required in order to use the Rainforest Alliance trademark and claims.
- For farms that are also cultivating coffee, cocoa, tea, fruits, nuts, flowers, vegetables or palm oil, but do not wish to use the Rainforest Alliance trademarks and claims for these crops, UEBT/Rainforest Alliance requirements apply. This UEBT/Rainforest Alliance certification will cover all herbs, spices, rooibos and other herbal tea ingredients cultivated on the farm (but no other crops). It will also cover wild collection.
Exception 2 – Cultivation of chili or pepper (Piper nigrum)
- Farms that are cultivating chili or pepper (piper nigrum) without any other Rainforest Alliance Certified crop (such as coffee, cocoa, tea, fruit, flowers, nuts, vegetables, or palm oil) may choose between certification against the UEBT/Rainforest Alliance requirements or against the Rainforest Alliance 2020 Standard.
If the certificate holder choses UEBT/Rainforest Alliance certification, the certificate will cover chili and pepper as well as all other herbs, spices, rooibos and herbal tea ingredients, both cultivated and collected from the wild.
If the certificate holder chooses the Rainforest Alliance 2020 Certification Program, the certificate will cover all crops cultivated on the farm, but no wild collection. For wild collection, a UEBT/Rainforest Alliance certification is always required.
- If the farm cultivates also other crops next to chili or pepper (such as coffee, cocoa, tea, fruit, flowers, nuts, vegetables or palm oil) and wishes to sell these crops with the Rainforest Alliance trademarks or claims, certification against the Rainforest Alliance 2020 Standard applies for all crops cultivated on the farm. In case of wild collection, an additional UEBT/Rainforest Alliance certification is always required in order to use the Rainforest Alliance trademark and claims.
Supply chain certification
All supply chain actors sourcing products certified as part of the new Herbs & Spices Program are required to be certified against the new Rainforest Alliance 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard’s Supply Chain Requirements.
The supply chain actors need to register with Rainforest Alliance until 31 December 2021. Please be aware that companies currently certified with UTZ or the Rainforest Alliance Chain of Custody standard will also need to register again with Rainforest Allianceand transition to the 2020 Rainforest Alliance Supply Chain Requirements according to these timelines. They will receive an email invitation to complete the registration process once their window for registration opens.
The Rainforest Alliance has expanded the scope of certification to include retailers that are driving the request for purchasing Rainforest Alliance Certified products, sold under their own brand name or as non-branded products. These retailers will be required to register and obtain certification to show compliance with the Supply Chain Requirements of the 2020 Standard. We will provide additional guidance to retailers to determine if they fall into this category. Learn more about helping retailers who need to simply register and/or get certified in the new Rainforest Alliance certification system.
Your next steps and contacts
If your farm is audited against the UEBT/Rainforest Alliance requirements, you will need to contact UEBT at herbsandspices@uebt.org. If your current license expires in 2021 please get in touch as soon as possible, latest by April 2021. If your license expires in 2022, please contact UEBT by the end of 2021.
If your farm is audited against the Rainforest Alliance 2020 Standard, you will need to register online with the Rainforest Alliance (you will receive an email invitation to complete your registration process once your window for registration opens) and follow our Transition Rules. Contact us at herbsandspices@ra.org in case of questions.
If you are a supply chain actor, you will be audited against the Rainforest Alliance 2020 Standard. You will need to register online with the Rainforest Alliance (you will receive an email invitation to complete your registration process once your window for registration opens.) and follow our Transition Rules. Contact us at herbsandspices@ra.org in case of questions.