AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands – UTZ and RA-Cert are pleased to announce a new collaboration agreement. Under this agreement, RA-Cert has become an UTZ approved certification body that can now conduct UTZ stand-alone and combined UTZ/ SAN audits and certifications in sustainable coffee, cocoa and tea production in selected countries in South America, Asia and Africa.
In Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria RA-Cert can offer combined UTZ/ SAN audits only. When combining audits, auditors check requirements for both the UTZ and the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN) standards in one visit, which keeps down costs.
UTZ is a strong proponent of combined auditing and has been promoting this since its inception. UTZ works with a range of non-exclusive third-party certification bodies for auditing and certification worldwide (so that producers in any of the UTZ origins can choose between competent certification bodies), and is happy to add RA-Cert to this list.
UTZ believes it is not only more credible and scalable to outsource auditing; it also promotes cost efficiency ultimately reducing costs for producers.
