FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

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 System Checklist, based on a set of Requirements for Certificate Holders. The System Checklist has two versions, one for Organisations at Source and one for Organisations not at Source. The Requirements for Certificate Holders also has two versions - one for Organisations at Source and one for Organisations not located at Source. 'Organisations at Source' refers to farms, cooperative or local companies that are directly responsible for cultivation and collection activities of natural raw materials. 'Organisations not at Source' refers to companies such as international manufacturers or brands that are not located in sourcing areas.

The Field Checklist lists the criteria and indicators for the programme, as well as provides guidance for each indicator and information on the scoring system for the programme.

The ‘System Checklist’ is complemented by selected requirements from the new Rainforest Alliance 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard.

The ‘Requirements for Certificate Holders’ lays out the different steps and requirements to prepare for your external audit in the Herbs & Spices Programme. It includes the conditions that need to be in place and the steps that should be followed for monitoring the implementation of the good practices in the UEBT standard and ensuring compliance with those requirements.

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

• 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 which an additional certification against the UEBT/Rainforest Alliance requirements is always required in order to use the Rainforest Alliance trademark and claims.
If farmers do not wish to use the Rainforest Alliance trademarks and claims for the coffee, cocoa, tea, fruits, nuts, flowers, vegetables or palm oil they are cultivating, 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.
• 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

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/Rainforest Alliance 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.

UEBT recognies Certification Bodies (auditors) that Rainforest Alliance works with, so a change would not necessarily be required. For up to 12 months we will be training a range of stakeholders including certification bodies in the new requirements. It will be important to reach out to your Certification Body well before your audit to find out if they are able to assist you again.

You would join the new UEBT and Rainforest Alliance Herbs & Spices Programme. It applies to:

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

Which requirements apply for your audit will depend on a number of other factors. In general, for farm level audits the UEBT/Rainforest Alliance requirements will apply, but with the following exceptions:

• If you cultivate herbs, spices, rooibos as well as other herbal tea ingredients, you will not be required to have double certification if you 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.
• If you grow herbs, spices, rooibos and other herbal tea ingredients in combination with fruit, vegetables or flowers, you may choose one certification for all your crops. You will need to comply either with UEBT/Rainforest Alliance requirements or with the Rainforest Alliance 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard. Please contact us to learn more.
• If you cultivate chili or pepper (Piper nigrum), you can also choose which requirements to be audited against: the UEBT/Rainforest Alliance requirements or the Rainforest Alliance 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard. Please contact us to learn more.

If you are collecting herbs, spices, or herbal tea ingredients from the wild you will always be required to comply with the UEBT/RA requirements.

You would still be required to hold chain of custody certification to source products certified as part of the new Herbs & Spices programme. The Rainforest Alliance has published new chain of custody requirements for supply chain actors as part of its 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard. These are available in the Standard’s Supply Chain Requirements document. You can find more information regarding timelines and transition to Rainforest Alliance’s new 2020 Certification Program here.

Companies sourcing products certified as part of the new Herbs & Spices programme would require Rainforest Alliance certification against the new 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard’s Supply Chain Requirements.

Your customers would benefit from greater market reach and consumer recognition of the Rainforest Alliance certification seal. The UTZ label will be gradually phased out. Meanwhile, companies can continue to submit UTZ labelling approval requests at least until the end of 2022, and we will continue to offer support for UTZ certified brands and products, from sourcing through marketing. The UEBT certification label may also be available for additional use. Contact us at claims@uebt.org for more information and when this might apply in conjunction with the Rainforest Alliance Certified seal or UTZ certification label.

You can find more information regarding timelines and transition to the new 2020 Certification Program here.
You may also write to customersuccess@ra.org if you have questions or need more information.

We have mutual certification recognition in place for existing Chain of Custody certificate holders of either Rainforest Alliance or UTZ standard. You can find detailed information here.

Please note that specifically for Rainforest Alliance Certified herbal and fruit tea ingredients as well as rooibos, we have implemented a volume declaration protocol until an online traceability system is available from mid-2021. According to the protocol, packers of herbal, fruit or rooibos tea products that contain any volumes from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms need to send a quarterly overview of these Rainforest Alliance Certified volumes, starting with Quarter 3/2020 (July, August, September 2020), to customersuccess@ra.org.

Herbal and fruit tea ingredients and rooibos from UTZ certified farms are already being traced in the Good Inside Portal and no additional reporting is required.

Rainforest Alliance has a mutual certification recognition in place for existing Chain of Custody certificate holders of either Rainforest Alliance or UTZ standard. You can find detailed information here .

Please note that specifically for Rainforest Alliance Certified herbal and fruit tea ingredients as well as rooibos, we have implemented a volume declaration protocol until an online traceability system is available from mid-2021. According to the protocol, packers of herbal, fruit or rooibos tea products that contain any volumes from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms need to send a quarterly overview of these Rainforest Alliance Certified volumes, starting with Quarter 3/2020 (July, August, September 2020), to us at customersuccess@ra.org.

Herbal and fruit tea ingredients and rooibos from UTZ certified farms are already being traced in the Good Inside Portal and no additional reporting is required.

All ingredients certified under the new UEBT/Rainforest Alliance Herbs & Spices Programme will be able to carry the Rainforest Alliance certification 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 the UTZ Labeling and Trademark Policy apply. For more information about the Rainforest Alliance’s mutual recognition program, see here .

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. Read more on timelines and phasing out of the current seal options.

Opportunities are also available to use the UEBT certification label. For more information on this and the requirements associated with it, write to us at claims@uebt.org