Evolving Practices in SustainabilityAssuranceKarin KreiderSustainability in the Food Supply Chain, September 2011

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Introducing the ISEAL Alliance

Our Tools: ISEAL Codes of Good Practice

(Standard-Setting, Impacts, Assurance…)

Our Members: Voluntary social and environmental standards

systems

Our Focus: Scaling up social and environmental impacts

Our Strategies: Shared learning, collaboration, stakeholder

engagement and awareness raising

Members of the ISEAL Alliance12 members in full compliance with ISEAL Membership Criteria (including compliance with existing ISEAL Codes of Good Practice and other internationally recognised guidance including ISO Guide 17011 for Accreditation Members) 7 newer members have committed to demonstrate full compliance within 1-3 years from the date of membership approval.

Members of the ISEAL Alliance

AssuranceStandard-

SettingImpacts

Elements of Credibility

•Open and transparent

•Multi-stakeholder process

•Defines purpose and necessity of standard

•Auditing

•Certification

•Accreditation

•Social

•Environmental

•Economic

Claims and Labelling

•Relevant measurable, objective criteria

•Traceability

•Accurate claims

Components of Assurance

All-encompassing term, as defined by ISEAL to include:Auditing– Competencies, training, evaluation

Certification– 1st party– 2nd party– 3rd party

Accreditation

Auditing Certification Accreditation

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International

• Three core functions– Setting the standard– Assessing compliance with the

standard– Measuring the impacts of

compliance

• Proxy for direct relationship between producer and consumer

• What does credible assurance look like?

Role of Assurance in a Standards System

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on Rawles

What if effectiveness is defined as contribution to impact?

What is the value-added that assurance can bring?

Define effective more broadly, as assurance that is:– Replicable– Impartial– Accessible / Affordable– Transparent– Locally accountable– Scalable

Redefining Effective Assurance

Current Issues

•Impacts

•Credibility

•Cost & Accessibility

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Photo © M

arine Stewardship

Council

• Strong ISEAL member support drives development • Multi-stakeholder consultation• 9 member Steering Committee• 9 member Technical Committee• First draft for consultation in November• At least 2 rounds of public consultation• Expected completion June 2012

Credibility: Developing an ISEAL Assurance Code

Proposed Scope of Assurance CodeInclude some or all of the following issues– Auditor Competence - screening, training, qualification, calibration

and monitoring– Audit implementation – minimum requirements for good practice +

guidance notes to ISO 17065, 17021– Transparency – additional requirements (beyond ISO) where needed

– ‘transparency can reduce the need for excessive rigour’– Standard quality – consistent interpretation of standards– Accessibility – deals with the challenges of cost and access and will

include innovative options

Complementary to ISO standards (17011, 17065, 17021)Requirements apply to scheme-owner; & CBs and ABs where appropriate

Doesn’t ISO already provide enough guidance?ISO Standards (65, 17021, 17011) form a strong foundation– Systems-based– Supporting impartial, independent and consistent results

Assurance of sustainability standards requires more– Competence, transparency, accountability, accessibility

ISO acknowledges Scheme-specific guidance is necessary (17067)– Auditor competencies, audit process, decision-making

Assurance Code as scheme-specific guidance for social and environmental standards systems– Potentially includes interpretation of ISO standards

Access for small CBs Certification decision making

OtherManaging large producer groups

Transparency Product traceability

Standard qualityGovernance

Resource constraintsAuditor competence

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Identify the top 4 challenges to credible assurance

% choice

Consultation Findings – In Brief

Access for small CBs Other

Product traceabilityResource constraints

Certification decision makingManaging large producer groups

Standard qualityTransparency

GovernanceAuditor competence

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Which of these challenges could be addressed by the Assurance Code?

% choice

Consultation Findings – In Brief

External Trends and Advances•Strong trend amongst other programs (e.g. ISO, food safety) to place increased emphasis on personnel competency and potential for personnel certification.

•IFOAM’s participatory guarantee system encourages self and/or peer assessment. Successful when local stakeholders are fully involved .

•GlobalG.A.P. operates a certification integrity program, which checks if outcomes achieved and calibrates accreditors and certifiers.

•Audit technology is rapidly developing.

Audit TechnologiesAudit technologies have been developing rapidly, enabling the following– Workflows built into software - checklists change based on

responses– Options to select descriptions of how the client achieving

conformity, beyond yes / no– Logic rules ensure complete audits and identify inconsistencies– Information on risk used to change audit frequency or intensity– New reporting tools, combined with faster hardware, increase

ability to extract information from data – Operating costs and response times are lowered– Use of mobile phones for data transfer allows relatively low cost,

almost ubiquitous access

Credibility: Auditor CompetenceOptions for Addressing:• Common requirements for

training, qualification, monitoring

• Common training platform• Central (common)

registration/accreditation programme for auditors

• Certification of auditors• Guidance notes to ISO

17065

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Cost and Accessibility: Risk-based Approaches• Certification as a risk management programme• Audit risk is the risk that the audit will not provide an accurate conclusion as to client conformity• Expressed by multiplying three factors:– Control risk – the risk that the client does not know that their system

is non-conforming – Inherent risk – risks associated with the client, the industry or culture– Detection risk – the risk that the audit will miss non-conformities if

they exist

Options for addressing cost and accessibility

• Use of risk assessment to reduce audit frequency• Finding other benefits from assurance (capacity building,

data gathering)• Providing options for the right level of assurance based on risk and stakeholder demand • Increasing transparency while reducing audit requirements• Guidance to ISO 17065 (for capacity building, access for small CBs)

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Association

Group Certification: Facilitate access for small holders – Shared research – Adoption of common

procedures for group certification

Joint Audits between Standards Systems

Cost and Accessibility

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arine Stewardship

Council

Impacts

Collaboration

Learning

Innovations

Accessibility

Conclusions

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For More Information:

Karin Kreider

Scaling Up Director

karin@isealalliance.org

www.isealalliance.org