ANNEX CHAPTER 2:
Traceability
Document SA-S-SD-20
Version 1.1

Published on February 6th, 2023
Binding from July 1st, 2023

Included in this document:
S02 Traceability© 2023 Rainforest Alliance. All rights reserved.

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

Name of the document

Date of first publication

Expires byAnnex Chapter 2: Traceability

July 1st, 2022

Until further notice

Linked to
SA-S-SD-1 Rainforest Alliance 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard, Farm Requirements
SA-S-SD-2 Rainforest Alliance 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard, Supply Chain Requirements
Replaces

Applicable to

SA-S-SD-20-V1 Annex Chapter 2: Traceability,
published on July 1st, 2022

Farm and Supply Chain Certificate Holders

Annexes are binding and must be complied with for certification.
More information
For more information about the Rainforest Alliance, visit www.rainforest-alliance.org, contact info@ra.org or
contact the Rainforest Alliance Amsterdam Office, De Ruijterkade 6, 1013AA Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Translation Disclaimer
For any question related to the precise meaning of the information contained in the translation, please referto the official English version for clarification. Any discrepancies or differences in meaning due to translation
are not binding and have no effect for auditing or certification purposes.
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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OVERVIEW OF KEY CHANGES
Overview of key adaptations in this document
SA-S-SD-20-V1.1 Annex Chapter 2: Traceability, published on February 6th, 2023,
compared to the previous version
SA-S-SD-20-V1 Annex Chapter 2: Traceability, published on July 1st, 2022
SectionSubject

Change1

Scope fortraceability

Text simplified

1

Level oftraceability
reporting

Clarification added on traceability forsubcontractors

1

Applicability ofStandard
requirements

Clarification added on traceability for retailers

1

Mass Balance

Text simplified, and extension of mass balancescope to other crops has been added2

2.1.12 Sales
documentation

Text on requirement 2.1.12 has been removed, as
requirement has been clarified in the Standard3

2.1.9 Converting
certified product

Clarification added on converting and redeeming
certified products

3

2.1.9 Conversion
rates

Table simplified

3

2.2.1 Managing
outgoing
transactions

Text simplified, clarification added on traceability
for retailers

3

2.2.1 Managing
incoming
transactions

Clarification added on trusted trade partner
functionality in the traceability platform

3

2.2.3 Removing
certified volumes

Clarification added on mass balance volumes

3

2.2.1 & 2.2.3
When to report

Clarification added on scenario where a CH's
supplier hasn't declared their sales to them in the
traceability platform

3

2.2.5 Aggregatingtransactions

Newly added section clarifying the requirement4

2.3.1 Volume
conversion

Text simplified

4

2.3.3 & 2.3.4
Origin matching

Text simplified, general clarifications added,
requirements for phase 2 added

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
S02 Traceability...................................................................................................................................... 5
1.

Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 5
Scope and applicability for traceability requirements ............................................................ 5
Traceability types .......................................................................................................................... 5•

Identity preserved (IP) ............................................................................................................ 5•Segregation (SG) .................................................................................................................... 5•

Mass balance (MB) ................................................................................................................ 5

Scope of traceability types ......................................................................................................... 6
2.

Traceability ................................................................................................................................ 7
Requirement 2.1.7 – double selling ............................................................................................. 7

3.

Traceability in The online platform .......................................................................................... 7
Traceability platform activities .................................................................................................... 7
Requirement 2.1.9 – converting certified product ................................................................... 7
Requirement 2.1.9 – conversion rates ........................................................................................ 7
Requirement 2.2.1 – managing outgoing transactions of certified product ........................ 8
Requirement 2.2.2 – managing incoming transactions of certified product ........................ 9
Requirement 2.2.3 – removing certified volumes...................................................................... 9
Requirement 2.2.1 and 2.2.3 – when to report .......................................................................... 9
Requirement 2.2.5 – aggregating transactions ......................................................................... 94.

Mass balance .......................................................................................................................... 10
Requirement 2.3.1 – volume conversion .................................................................................. 10
Requirements 2.3.3 and 2.3.4 – origin matching ..................................................................... 10
Phase 1 requirements ................................................................................................................. 11
Phase 2 requirements ................................................................................................................. 11
Origin regional approach .......................................................................................................... 11

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S02 TRACEABILITY
1. INTRODUCTION
This document provides further detail around the requirements in the traceability chapter inthe Rainforest Alliance 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard.
More information on the implementation of rules and requirements can be found in the
document SA-G-SC-42 Traceability Guidance.

Scope and applicability for traceability requirements
Traceability must be maintained so that the flow of certified products can be traced throughthe entire supply chain. Traceability also allows to ensure that products sold as Rainforest
Alliance Certified comply with this claim. Traceability requirements generally need to befollowed by all farm and supply chain certificate holders working with certified products, basedon the mandatory requirements provided in the contextualized checklist following registrationin the Rainforest Alliance Certification Platform (RACP).
Maintaining traceability is required for legacy volumes and volumes certified against the
Rainforest Alliance 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard (SAS).
Chapter 2.2 of the standard is only applicable to crops for which traceability in the online
platform is available.
Retailers are generally exempted from traceability requirements, as they can choose whether
they want to engage in traceability and receive transactions from their manufacturers.
However, if the retailers are responsible for SD/SI payments (except for tea), then traceability
requirements are also applicable to them.

Traceability types
The following traceability types are available in certified supply chains, listed from “highest” to“lowest”: identity preserved (IP), segregated (SG), and mass balance (MB).

•Identity preserved (IP)A traceability type where the Rainforest Alliance Certified product can be traced backto the farm certificate holder. This is the most stringent traceability type. There is no
mixing of certified product with non-certified product, or with certified product fromdifferent sources. If a certified product is from different certified sources/farms, but theiridentity is preserved, the subtype Mixed Identity Preserved (Mixed IP) can be applied.

•Segregation (SG)A traceability type where the certified product is kept separate from and never mixed
with the non-certified product, both physically and in documentation. This segregation
occurs during all receiving, processing, packaging, storage, and transportation stagesof the supply chain. This means that the product is fully certified, although the identityof its source(s) is not known.

•

Mass balance (MB)Mass balance is an administrative type of traceability, where the certified and noncertified product can be mixed, but where no more volume of product is sold ascertified than what was initially purchased as certified. The supply chain certificate
holder (CH) needs to administer all their certified and non-certified inputs and outputs
in their internal documentation, and sales of certified volume need to be accurately
registered in the traceability platform.

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SCA = SUPPLY CHAIN ACTOR
Upgrading one traceability type to another is not possible. For example, it is not possible togenerate an output with traceability type identity preserved when the input was segregation.
However, it is possible to downgrade from a higher traceability type to a lower one, forexample, from segregation to mass balance.

Scope of traceability types
The traceability type identity preserved may be applied to any crop included in scope for
Rainforest Alliance certification.
The traceability type segregation may be applied to any crop included in scope for Rainforest
Alliance certification. Segregation cannot be applied by farm CHs.
Mass balance may be applied to the following crops: cocoa, processed fruits (includingorange juice), hazelnut, coconut oil, flowers, as well as herbs, spices and other herbal tea
ingredients1. All supply chain certificate holders (first buyer and beyond) may select massbalance as traceability type for these crops. Farm CHs may apply the mass balance
traceability type for hazelnut, coconut oil and flowers.

1 For flowers, the mass balance traceability is done on the number of certified input (stems) the CH receives within agiven period (day/week/year) and allows the CH to claim the percentage of certified input in its final product.

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2. TRACEABILITY
Requirement 2.1.7 – double selling
Double selling means selling the same volume of a product certified under multiple
certification schemes twice, , once as Rainforest Alliance Certified and once under anothercertification scheme or as conventional. Double selling is not permitted.
For example, 100 MT of coffee produced by a farm can be certified as both organic andRainforest Alliance and sold as:-

100 MT Rainforest Alliance Certified only, or
100 MT Organic only, or
100 MT Rainforest Alliance Certified and Organic (once in one batch) to one buyer.

However, that same volume of coffee cannot be sold as separately 100 MT of organic coffee
as well as 100 MT of Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee.

3. TRACEABILITY IN THE ONLINE PLATFORM
Traceability platform activities
The Rainforest Alliance traceability platform reflects the movement of Rainforest Alliance
Certified product throughout the supply chain and is implemented at the level of thecertificate holder (CH). If the CH is certified as a multi-site, then the multi-site administrator(central management) is responsible for the implementation of traceability requirements.
Traceability is not mandatory for movement of certified product among sites included on thesame certificate.
In most cases, this follows legal ownership. However in some cases, for example when asubcontractor is involved, this would follow physical possession. Reporting entails: Sales,
conversions, confirming, mixing, redeeming, and removing of the certified product.
If a CH works with subcontractors who carry out processes in which volumes are modified e.g.,through manufacturing , those conversions must be reported either by the subcontractor itself,
or by adding the activities of the subcontractor to the CH’s profile.

Requirement 2.1.9 – converting certified productFor activities such as processing that result in a change of the certified volume (e.g. from green
to roasted coffee), and activities such as manufacturing that result in a different product (e.g.
multi-ingredient product) but do not result in a change of the certified volume, the supply
chain CH is required to register the “conversion” and/or “report manufacturing” in the
traceability platform prior to selling onward.
For volumes which are not required to be sold onward in the traceability platform, and need
to be redeemed by the SC CH, the “conversion” and/or “report manufacturing” activities do
not need to be performed (except for tea) prior to redeeming.
For tea companies the “conversion” and/or “mix” activity must be always reported prior to thevolumes being redeemed.

Requirement 2.1.9 – conversion rates
The table below indicates the conversion rates for mass balance, for sectors where this isallowed. The range of permitted conversion rates for segregation and identity preserved are
pre-set in the traceability platform.

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Crop/Sector

Conversion factor

Cocoa
Beans to liquor

1:0.82Beans to nibs

1:0.82

Nibs to liquor

1:1

Liquor to butter and powder

1:0.5:0.5

Chocolate to chocolate

1:1

Hazelnut
In shell to kernel

1:0.5

Kernel to roasted kernel

1:0.94

Kernel to processed kernel (e.g. blanched, chopped, sliced, etc.)

1:1

Roasted kernel to roasted processed kernel

1:1

Coconut
Fresh fruit to copra

1:0.25

Copra to crude coconut oil

1:0.62

Crude coconut oil to refined coconut oil (RBD)

1:0.96

Crude coconut oil to refined coconut oil (hydrogenated)

1:0.96

OrangesFresh fruit to soluble solids (SS)Kg of SS = (X Boxes of fresh
fruit / Y Boxes per ton of
FCOJ at 66 Brix) × 1000 ×
66%

Soluble solids to juice (FCOJ)

1:1

Soluble solids to juice (NFC)

1:1

Juice to reconstituted juice

1:1

Requirement 2.2.1 – managing outgoing transactions of certified productAll business-to-business sales of a certified product must be reported in the Rainforest Alliance
traceability platform, starting from the farm CH up to either:a) the point where the certified product is packaged and labelled as a finishedconsumer-facing product under the CH’s own brand. In this case, the certified
product is redeemed2 from the traceability platform.
b) the point where the supply chain CH manufacturing the finished consumer-facing
product sells it to the brand owner. In this case, a sales transaction of the certified
product is issued to the brand owner in the traceability platform.

2 Redeem = The certificate holder owning the brand traces volumes out of the traceability platform that are being

sold as final consumer-facing products. The activity 'redeem' marks the end of online traceability for Rainforest Alliance
Certified products.

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Traceability to retail level is usually optional, including for tea. However, for retailers who areresponsible for SD/SI payments (except for tea), traceability is always mandatory.
For retail brand owners who do not want to and are not required to engage in traceability, thefinal product manufacturer can redeem the corresponding volumes from their own account,rather than declaring the sale to the retailer. If the retailer does decide to engage intraceability, the final product manufacturer needs to declare a sale to them. Retailers are notrequired to redeem volumes from their own traceability account.

Requirement 2.2.2 – managing incoming transactions of certified productTransactions of certified product sold by suppliers must be reviewed and confirmed3 by the CH
that is purchasing the certified product.
Companies with a high volume of incoming transactions can make use of our Trusted Trade
Partner functionality in the online platform, where all transactions from selected suppliers areautomatically confirmed by the system.

Requirement 2.2.3 – removing certified volumes
Certified products are removed from the traceability platform when they are not sold as
Rainforest Alliance Certified, but as conventional, or certified by another certification scheme,or when the volumes have been damaged and/or lost.
Mass balance volumes are not required to be removed from the traceability platform, and asales transaction needs to be issued to the buyer (if applicable) once the corresponding
certified volume equivalent has been sold.

Requirement 2.2.1 and 2.2.3 – when to report
Transactions must be reported in the traceability platform at the latest within 2 weeks from theend of the calendar quarter (January – March, April – June, July – September, October –December) in which the shipment took place..
••

Example 1: A physical sale is made in May - the CH must report the sale transaction
latest by July 14th.
Example 2: A certified volume is sold as conventional in December - the CH must
remove the certified product from the traceability platform by January 14th of thefollowing year.

In the case where a CH cannot declare the sale of certified product to their buyer within therequired timeframe, as the CH’s supplier has not yet declared the sale to them, the CH needs
to demonstrate due diligence in having reached out to their supplier.

Requirement 2.2.5 – aggregating transactions
If several shipments are combined into one transaction in the traceability platform, the CH
must provide sufficient supporting information in the transaction so that the individual
shipments can be identified. This can be done by including information such as the individual
volumes, invoice numbers, shipment codes and dates in the transaction, or by uploading an
Excel containing this information.

Confirm = CH reviews and approves details (volume, traceability level, and any other references provided) ofincoming transactions from certified suppliers, if those correspond to details on the invoice and contracts with their
suppliers
3

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4. MASS BALANCE
Requirement 2.3.1 – volume conversion
As per our mass balance rules, in order to sell conventional volumes as certified, the conversionof certified volumes is only possible to the same product or in the actual direction of physicalprocessing, for example:••••

Certified cocoa butter to conventional cocoa butter
Certified cocoa beans to conventional cocoa butter
Certified in-shell hazelnuts to conventional roasted hazelnut kernel
Certified crude coconut oil to conventional refined coconut oil

Volume conversion in a backward direction is not allowed, for example:••••

Certified cocoa liquor to conventional cocoa nibs
Certified chocolate to conventional cocoa butter
Certified cocoa butter to conventional cocoa powder (and vice-versa)
Processed hazelnut kernel to in-shell hazelnuts

Volume conversion from Rainforest Alliance Certified multi-ingredient products (eg.,chocolate) to conventional single-ingredient products (eg., cocoa butter) is not allowed
either, as this constitutes a backward conversion.
Volume conversion from Rainforest Alliance Certified multi-ingredient products (eg., herbaltea) to conventional multi-ingredient products (eg., herbal tea) is permitted.

Requirements 2.3.3 and 2.3.4 – origin matching
For the cocoa sector, the following origin matching requirements and definitions apply:

Definitions
Annual volume

The aggregate volume by origin of actual certified liquor sales over a
12-month period.

OriginThe country where the certified cocoa beans were produced.

Origin footprint

The country of origin of the farm CH for a volume of certified cocoa inthe traceability platform.

Origin matching

When a volume of certified cocoa is purchased, in order to sell anequivalent volume of conventional cocoa as certified, the origin of
both volumes needs to be the same (per transaction or on an
aggregate basis).

Sourcing planA plan to implement shifting certified sourcing to meet the requirementsof origin matching. This plan must be submitted to and approved by
the Rainforest Alliance.

Scope
Origin matching is required for all transactions completed in the traceability platform with
contracts signed from April 1st, 2021 for phase 1 requirements, and October 1, 2023 for phase2 requirements, as indicated in this document. This includes all mass balance certified cocoa.
Origin matching is required for all cocoa that has an origin footprint displayed in the
traceability platform. However, the Rainforest Alliance can give an exemption for origin
matching for a specific volume and origin based on the approval of a sourcing plan.

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Phase 1 requirements
Cocoa beans and nibs
Origin matching is required for 100% of each purchase and sales transaction of certified cocoa
beans and nibs between supply chain CHs. Purchase and sales documentation for beans andnibs sold as certified must include origin information to country-level for both certified andconventional beans and nibs.

Cocoa liquor
Origin matching is required for the first sale of certified cocoa liquor in the supply chain on an
aggregate level for each 12-month period (exceptions below in phase 2). Companies must
calculate their annual volume for origin matching of certified mass balance liquor and include
proof of calculation. Documentation required at the supply chain CH certificate holder level
includes origin information to country-level for certified and non-certified cocoa inputs.
The origins for aggregate certified liquor sales and the annual volume are compared. Origin
matching up to at least 80% by volume is required.
If origin matching is less than 80% for the 12-month period, then the volume gap must becompensated for within the next 3 months.

Phase 2 requirements
Exports from Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Ecuador
In addition to all phase 1 requirements, origin matching is required for 100% of each export
sales transaction of certified cocoa liquor, butter, or powder between supply chain certificate
holders.

Origin regional approach
For both phases 1 and 2, origin matching may be done on a regional level for all products
except cocoa beans and nibs combining specific smaller countries of origin, as identified in
the table below:
RegionCountries

ExceptionsWest Africa

Guinea, Liberia, Togo, Sierra
Leone, other Africa

Not included: Cameroon, Côte
d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria,
Madagascar, or countries listed
under Central and East Africa

Central and East Africa

Congo, Democratic Republicof Congo, Equatorial Guinea,
Gabon, Sao Tome andPrincipe, Tanzania, Uganda

Not
included:
Madagascar

South America

Belize, Bolivia, Costa Rica,
Cuba, Dominica, Grenada,
Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras,
Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua,
Panama, Santa Lucia, Trinidad
and Tobago, Venezuela, other
Americas

Not included: Brazil, Colombia,
Dominican Republic, Ecuador,
Peru

Asia and OceaniaFiji, India, Malaysia, Papua New
Guinea, Philippines, Solomon
Islands, Sri Lanka, Thailand,
Vanuatu, Vietnam, other Asiaand Oceania

Not included: Indonesia

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