RAINFOREST ALLIANCE
POLICY
Audits for Certificate Holders based in Brazil
Version 1.1© 2021 Rainforest Alliance. All rights reserved.

The Rainforest Alliance is creating a more sustainable world by using social and market forcesto
protect nature and improve the lives of farmers and forest communities.

Translation Disclaimer
For any question related to the precise meaning of the information contained in thetranslation, please refer to the official English version for clarification. Any discrepancies ordifferences in meaning due to translation are not binding and have no effect for auditing or
certification purposes.

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Document Name:

Document Code

Version:Language:

Policy: Audits for Certificate Holders based in Brazil

SA-P-LA-25

V1.1

EN

Date of first publication:

Date of revision:

Valid From:

Expires in:

September 13th 2021

March 1st 2023

March 1st 2023

Until further notice.

Developed by:Approved by:

Global Assurance

Director of Standards and Assurance

Linked to:
SA-R-GA-1-V1.1 - Certification and Auditing Rules.SAR-GA-2-V1.1 - Rules for Certification Bodies.
SA-S-SD-1-V1.1 – Sustainable Agriculture Standard, Farm Requirements.
SA-S-SD-2-V1.1 – Sustainable Agriculture Standard, Supply Chain Requirements.
Replaces:
Policy for Certification Processes: Operation Identification and social risk mitigation in Brazil.
Applicable to:
Certificate holders and approved CBs of the Rainforest Alliance 2020 Certification Program, for audits
conducted in Brazil.
Country/Region:
Brazil.
Crop:

Type of Certification:

All crops in the scope of the Rainforest Alliancecertification system; please see Certification Rules.

Farm and Supply Chain Certification.

This policy document is binding. This means that it must be adhered to; therefore, this policy supersedesany
related rules or requirements contained in the documents listed in the section “linked to” and/or“replaces”
for those party or parties as indicated in the "applicable to" section.
Any use of this content including reproduction, modification, distribution or republication, without the priorwritten consent of Rainforest Alliance is strictly prohibited.

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INTRODUCTION
The Rainforest Alliance is a growing network of people who are inspired and committed on
working together to achieve our mission of conserving biodiversity and ensuring sustainable
livelihoods. In July 2020 we have published our new 2020 Certification Program with unique features
enabling sustainable farming across the globe.
Bearing in mind that one of the pillars of our new certification program is the alignment andcontextualization with local structures that may add value to Rainforest Alliance assurance
strategies, the aim of this policy is to align requirements of our Certification Rules andSustainable Agriculture Standard with local legislation requirements in Brazil. This policy brings further
clarification on how to interpret the requirements set forth in the binding documents of theSustainable Agriculture Standard in light of Brazilian applicable law.

DEFINITIONSDefinitions indicated in the binding documents of the Sustainable Agriculture Standard 2020.

Applicablelaw

National and ratified international laws that apply in a given context orsituation. National laws include the laws and regulations of all jurisdictionswithina nation (local, regional, and national). International laws to which nations
have acceded are also considered as applicable law, as per Annex S1:Glossary.

Forced laborAll work or service required of any person under the menace of any
penalty and for which the said person has not offered herself or himself
voluntarily. A person is classified as being in forced labor if they are
engaged in work that is involuntary (without the free and informed
consent of the worker) and is exacted through threats, penalties, or someformof coercion. Further examples on involuntariness and coercion indicatedin the Annex S1.

Requirement
applicability

In the case that an applicable law or CBA is stricter than a requirementin
the standard, such law or CBA will prevail unless such law has becomeobsolete. In the case that an applicable law or CBA is less strict than arequirement in the standard, the requirement in the standard will prevail,unlessthe requirement explicitly allows for such law or CBA to apply, as per
requirement 1.2.1 of the Farm Requirements and the Supply Chainrequirements.

For the purpose of this document, the term “The Standard” refers to the Rainforest Alliance
Sustainable Agriculture Standard 2020.

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1. GENERAL CONDITIONS
1.1. All farm audits shall happen duringharvest season, which is the period from the firstdayof the start of the harvestto 3 months after1. Audits will be allowed 3 (three) months
before the beginning of the harvest only in cases of technical difficulties of the ECs
and if they are previously authorized by the Rainforest Alliance. The Rainforest Alliancereserves the right to require, at any time, that audits be carried out during the harvest
period.
1.2. For Certificate Holders (CH) and CBs (CBs) the definition of forced labor provided in
the Annex S1 shall be expanded to include the legal provisions in Article 149 of theBrazilian Penal Code, which typifies analogous conditions to slavery. Suchdefinition adds factors such as exhaustive working hours, forced duties, degrading
working conditions and mobility restrictions; given that the applicable law is stricter2
than the Rainforest Alliance (RA) definition, such applicable law will apply.
1.3. For Certificate Holders (CH) and CBs (CBs) the definition of “worst forms of child labor”
provided in the Annex S1 shall include the Brazilian regulation on this matter. Pursuantto
Article 403 of the Consolidation of Labor Laws, no labor is allowed for individuals under16 years old, except from the apprentice work, which is allowed for individualsfrom 14
years old.
1.4. The CBs shall assess compliance of CHs considering such expanded definitions
when auditing Social Requirements (Chapter 5) and other applicable requirements ofThe Standard.
1.5. All provisions of this policy shall be observed in all Rainforest Alliance 2020 audits.,Noncompliance may lead to certificate suspension and/or cancellation 3 of thecertificate.

2. AUDIT PREPARATION
2.1. CBs shall conduct an investigation of lawsuits and notices of violation issued by the LaborInspectors Audit (“Auditoria-Fiscal do Trabalho”) prior to any farm and supply chain audit4
carried out against The Standard, considering the following:i) The investigation is applicable for all farm and supply chain audits.
ii) The investigation of lawsuits shall be done in the public databases available in theRegional Labor Court(s) website and/or in the Regional Labor Court(s)’ courthousein
which the CH is located; and the investigation of notices of violation issued by theLabor Inspectors Audit (“Auditoria-Fiscal do Trabalho”) shall be done in thepublic
database available in the Labor Inspection (“Inspeção do Trabalho”) website. The
investigation shall be complemented by a self-declaration of the CH, which shallprovide copies of the complaints, judgments, appellate decisions, and notices ofviolation, pursuant to clause 2.1.iii of this policy, if applicable. The CB may request that
the CH conduct the survey in the available public databasesand present the results
and respective clearance certificate(s). Such information must be true. Proven fraud oromission of information shall result in decertification.
iii) The investigation shall include the following scope of lawsuits and proceedings of thelast 5 years (to the extent available from the data gathered pursuant to clause
2.1.ii of this policy):(1) Labor class actions presented by trade unions and workers’ representativeorganizations, public interest civil actions (“ações civis públicas”) and lawsuits forthe execution of consent decrees presented by labor prosecution offices.
(2) Notices of violation issued by the Labor Inspectors Audit (“Auditoria-Fiscal doTrabalho”).
iv) CB shall report the investigation using the Certification Application Form (CAF) tool
provided by RA in the tab 2a.Risk Assessment, section c. Lawsuit Investigation.
2020 Certification and Auditing Rules, clause 1.5.21.
1 Requirement 1.2.1 of the Sustainable Agriculture Standard.
2 2020 Certification and Auditing Rules, clause 1.7.14.
3 2020 Certification and Auditing Rules, clause 2.3.19.u.

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2.2. CBs shall prepare the audits considering the applicable laws, country risk assessmentand
the general risk assessment prior to any audit5 carried out against The Standard,considering the following:i) The Audit Risk Assessment shall contain a mandatory consultation of the Dirty List ofEmployers Who Submitted Workers to Analogous Slavery Conditions, commonlyknown
as the “Dirty List” or, in case such list ceases to exist, another list publishedwith the sameobjective. The consultation result shall be indicated using the CAF tool provided by RA
in the tab 2a.Risk Assessment, section c. Lawsuit Investigation.
ii) The CB shall conduct off-site investigations6 and stakeholder consultations7 with
regionally active trade unions to assess other critical labor risks which were notfoundduring the other steps of the preparation of the audits. If there is no active trade unionin the region, the CB shall indicate this fact and the efforts made tocontact tradeunions.
iii) The Audit Risk Assessment shall contain a mandatory consultation of the IBAMA
Seizure List, using the CAF tool provided by RA in the tab 2a.Risk Assessment,sectionc. Lawsuit Investigation.
2.3. CBs shall develop an audit plan before every audit8 and it shall clearly indicate in theaudit
agenda which additional actions are going to be conducted to specifically address
the risks identified9 in the consultations indicated in section 2.1 and 2.2 in this policy.
2.4. CBs shall report the CAF tool fully filled out according to RA Certification and AuditingRules
and of this policy upon requesting a license for RA Certification.
2.5. All files and evidences of such consultations shall also be kept in the Certification Body
Quality Management System10.

3. AUDIT CONDUCT
3.1. Brazil is considered a high-risk country for social topics, thus all additional rules for social
audits prescribed in the Certification and Audit Rules Annex AR4 are applicablefor allsectors.
3.2. CBs shall always conduct off-site investigations11 and stakeholder consultations12 with
regionally active trade unions to determine which workers in the audit scope areaffiliated and assess potential violations of the freedom of association. Suchinformation shall be treated confidentially and only shared with Rainforest Allianceand/or authorities upon request.
3.3. The CB shall report the findings and attempts of such consultations as evidence ofthe
applicable requirement when assessing compliance of the Standard and usingCAF at
the tab 2a.Risk Assessment, section b. risk assessment, in the comments of question 4.
3.4. If an application of a Severity Test13 is needed to determine whether a violation ofapplicable law is severe or not, the CB shall observe that any violation of applicable law
on forced labor shall be considered as a ‘yes’ to questions 1 and 4 of the SeverityTest whichleads to non-certification or cancelation of the certificate.

4 2020 Certification and Auditing Rules, clause 2.3.2.
5 2020 Certification and Auditing Rules, annex AR 4.10,clause 55.b.
6 2020 Certification and Auditing Rules, annex AR 4.2,clause 2.
7 2020 Certification and Auditing Rules, clause 2.3.3.
8 2020 Certification and Auditing Rules, Annex AR 4.2.5
92020 Rules for CBs, clause 1.3.73.

10 2020 Certification and Auditing Rules, annex AR 4.10,clause 55.b.
11 2020 Certification and Auditing Rules, annex AR 4.2,clause 2.
12 2020 Certification and Auditing Rules, Annex AR 4.4.1.

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