ANNEX CHAPTER 5:
SocialDocument SA-S-SD-23
Version 1.1

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

Included in this document:
S04 Rainforest Alliance Remediation Protocol
Child Labor and Forced Labor Risk Maps
S09 Methodology for Measuring Remuneration and Gaps with a
Living Wage
S10 Living Wage Benchmarks per Country
S11 Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) Processes
Tools related to this Chapter:
S03 Risk Assessment Tool
S08 Salary Matrix Tool

© 2023 Rainforest Alliance. All rights reserved.

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

Name of the document

Date of first publication Expires byAnnex Chapter 5: Social

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-23-V1 Annex Chapter 5: Social

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 a translation, please refer to the official
English version for clarification. Any discrepancies or differences in meaning due to translation are not binding and haveno effect for auditing or certification purposes.
Any use of this content including reproduction, modification, distribution, or republication, without the prior writtenconsent of the Rainforest Alliance is strictly prohibited.

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OVERVIEW OF KEY CHANGES
Overview of key adaptations in this document
SA-S-SD-23-V1.1 Annex Chapter 5: Social, published on February 6th, 2023,
compared to the previous version
SA-S-SD-23-V1 Annex Chapter 5: Social, published on July 1st, 2022
Page

Subject

Changep. 4

Setting up a
Remediation System

Added reference to requirement 1.1.5 now detailing all
general responsibilities of the committees and theircomposition, part of requirements 1.5.1 (Grievance),
1.6.1 (Gender) and 5.1.1 (Assess and address). Specifictasks are solely kept in the respective requirementsp. 8

Living Wage

Removal of requirement 5.3.4 as it was merged with 5.3.3

p. 7

Child
Labor
Forced
Labor
maps

and
Risk

Added the URLs to the risk maps for child labor andforced labor

TABLE OF CONTENTS
S04 Rainforest Alliance Remediation Protocol ........................................................................................ 4
1.

Setting up a remediation system .............................................................................................. 4

2.

When a case happens: response and remediation process ................................................ 5Child Labor and Forced Labor Risk Maps ................................................................................................ 7
S09 Methodology For Measuring Remuneration And Gaps With A Living Wage ............................... 8
S10 Living wage benchmarks per country .............................................................................................. 9
S11 Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) Processes ....................................................................... 10
1.

ApplicabIlity ............................................................................................................................... 10

2.

Conducting an FPIC Process ................................................................................................... 11

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S04 RAINFOREST ALLIANCE REMEDIATION PROTOCOLThe Remediation Protocol (“Protocol”) is linked to requirement 5.1.4 of the Standard which requires
certificate holders to set up a system to assess-and-address discrimination, forced labor, childlabor and workplace violence and harassment, and to remediate cases.
Application of this Protocol is mandatory for all certificate holders that have requirement 5.1 in thescope of certification.
This annex contains the mandatory steps of the Remediation Protocol.
Further optional steps and guidance on how to implement the mandatory steps are found in the
Guidance S: Rainforest Alliance Remediation Protocol.

1. SETTING UP A REMEDIATION SYSTEM
The certificate holder’s management is accountable for ensuring that Requirement 5.1.4 isimplemented, and that remediation follows the following mandatory steps outlined below.
Appoint responsible parties
Requirement 5.1.1 of the Standard requires that each certificate holder sets up an Assess-andAddress Committee responsible for tackling discrimination, child labor, forced labor, andworkplace violence and harassment. The responsibilities of this committee are:•

May be one person or a larger committee.

•

May include someone from human resources to represent management.

•

Must manage the implementation of the Protocol, including developing a remediation
plan•

Must be responsible for remediating verified labor and human rights cases inaccordance with Requirement 5.1.4.

•

Must document all identified possible cases and the identified remediation for each ofthese cases in accordance with Requirement 5.1.3.

•

Must document monitoring activities, which includes following up on the remediation ofverified cases.

Please note: The Grievance Committee is responsible for the investigation and resolution of cases,
including referrals of verified labor and human rights grievances to the Assess-and-Address
Committee/person.
Following the new standard requirement 1.1.5, committees may be combined.
Prepare a remediation plan
Even in low-risk environments for labor and human rights violations, the Rainforest Alliance requires
certificate holders to have a remediation plan in place, as this helps them to respond quickly whena case is identified. The three steps to develop a remediation plan are:
1. Map stakeholders – The person/committee responsible for assess-and-address, including
for remediation, may cooperate with external actors, such as NGOs and government, tosupport implementation of risk mitigation, monitoring, and/or remediation. See Guidance
S: Rainforest Alliance Remediation Protocol for an example of how to map relevant
external stakeholders

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2. Develop remediation plan – The Remediation Plan must set out the actions the certificate
holder will take to be prepared to implement effective remediation if and when apotential violation is identified. For each action the plan must identify where and when theactions will be conducted, the start and end date and the responsible person. The
implementation of the plan must be monitored, and progress must be documented. See
Guidance S: Rainforest Alliance Remediation Protocol for an example template for the
Remediation Plan
3. Train stakeholders in the remediation plan – When the remediation plan has beendeveloped the following actors must be trained about it:•

The management team shall be trained on everyone’s role when a potential caseis discovered or reported (Requirement 5.1.1).

•

Group members and workers shall be trained on the Grievance Mechanism andRemediation Protocol, what their rights are and how they can access remediation(Requirement 5.1.4).

2. WHEN A CASE HAPPENS: RESPONSE AND REMEDIATION PROCESSThe table below indicates the mandatory remediation steps, stages, timeframe and responsible
parties for response and remediation.
In specific cases, deviations from the timeline with justification may be approved.
Further optional steps and guidance on how to implement the mandatory steps are found in the
Guidance S: Rainforest Alliance Remediation Protocol.
Timeframe– weeks
48 hours

48 hoursStage
1. Case reported

2. Response –
immediatesafeguarding

Activities

Responsible party

Case is received by the Assess-and-Address
Committee/responsible person and shared with
the
Grievance
Committee(GC)
forinvestigation.

Assess-and-Address(A&A) Committee

As soon as a case is reported, the safety andprotection of the individual at risk, shall bepriority.

A&A Committee,

Grievance
Committee (GC)
Grievance
Committee

If there is an immediate risk of harm to workers’
mentalorphysicalhealthinanidentified/reported case, support is given.
If support from external specialist parties isneeded, this should be provided only after
obtaining full consent from the person
concerned,
and
while
protectingtheconfidentiality of the individuals.
4 weeks

3. Response –severity test

GC conducts severity test, using the questions
below.

Grievance
Committee

If the answer is ‘Yes’ to any of these questions thecase is Severe. Further investigation needs totake place according to the steps below.
If the answers are ‘No”, the Case is not Severe.
GC concludes investigation and decides on
remediation steps.

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Severity Test Questions
1. Is the situation of the worker/child/potential whistleblowers life-threatening?
2. Is this a systemic incident, meaning there are multiple cases of this issue on the farm/site?
3. Can the situation have lifelong, negative impacts on the welfare of the worker/child, including
physical and/or psychological damage?
4. Is there evidence that the management or staff member knew that the violation was taking place,but continued/approved the practice?
12 weeks1

52 weeks2

Throughout

4. Remediation –implement
corrections
and confirms
corrective
action plan

Certificate holder (together with external parties)
implements corrections as part of remediation
plan and develops a corrective action plan withdetailed timeline.

Certificate holder,

5. Remediation –implement
corrective
actions

Certificate holder (together with external parties)
implements corrective actions to address root
causes.

Certificate holder

6. Remediation monitoring

A&A Committee monitors implementation ofagreed corrections and corrective actions by
CH and external stakeholder

A&A Committee

A&A Committee /Gender Committee

The outcome of a remediation process shallalways include measures to ensure that theviolation does not recur, based on an analysis of
its root causes
A&A Committee /Gender Committee

Certificate Holder
External stakeholders

1 If a case is identified by an auditor during an audit, evidence that corrections are undertaken, a root cause analysis took

place and corrective actions are planned, is submitted to the CB 10 weeks after the last day of the audit (instead of the
12 weeks). For more information, see Rainforest Alliance’s 2020 Certification and Auditing Rules.
2 If a case is identified by an auditor during an audit, the full remediation of a case (stage 4) shall be completed before
the next audit and with a maximum of 50 weeks from the last day of the previous audit (instead of the 52 weeks). Evidenceof implementation of the corrective action plan shall be sent to the CB at least 2 weeks prior to the next audit. For more
information, see Rainforest Alliance’s 2020 Certification and Auditing Rules.

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CHILD LABOR AND FORCED LABOR RISK MAPS
The mandatory improvement requirements 5.1.5, 5.1.6 and 5.1.7 apply in case of medium/high risk
for child labor and/or forced labor according to the Rainforest Alliance child labor and forcedlabor risk maps. These risk maps determine the risk for a particular country and sector and can befound here:
https://www.rainforest-alliance.org/resource-item/data-sheet-for-child-labor-and-forced-laborrisk-maps/
More explanations are given on this web page:https://www.rainforest-alliance.org/in-the-field/manage-risk-with-the-rainforest-alliance-childlabor-and-forced-labor-sectoral-risk-maps/

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S09 METHODOLOGY FOR MEASURING REMUNERATION ANDGAPS WITH A LIVING WAGE
Annex S09 indicates the definitions of terms to be used when completing Annex S08: Salary Matrix
Tool for a Living Wage Gap Analysis, which is part of core requirement 5.4.1 of the Farm
requirements of the 2020 Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Agriculture Standard. Further information
on how to complete the Living Wage Matrix tool is available in the Guidance Salary Matrix.
•

Applicable wage: The applicable wage is calculated per month. In most cases it is either
the applicable minimum wage or the wage negotiated in a Collective Bargaining
Agreement (CBA), whichever is higher. If there is no applicable minimum wage or CBA,
the applicable wage is taken to be the current wage paid.

•

Gross wage: Wages measured before taxes are removed or other statutory payroll
deductions (e.g., social security taxes or insurances, contributions to national healthsystems, pension schemes).

•

Bonus: The payment of additional wages based on performance and/or productivity. This
could be a piece-rate incentive or based on exceeding the set production quota.

•

In-kind benefits: non-monetary benefits that are provided to workers by their employer
that reduce their cost of living. These include, but are not limited to, meals and foodsupplies, housing, transportation, childcare, children’s education, and medical care.

•

Payment unit: The unit by which a worker’s pay is calculated. This can be time-related units,
such as per hour, day, week, fortnight, or month; or production units such as kg, bunch,hectare, box, etc.

•

Piece work: Work paid proportional to the volume of work done, i.e., based on the
production unit completed instead of the time spent working. These units can be per kilo,box, hectare, etc.

•

Production quota: the number of production units that a worker must complete in a certain
time period (e.g., a day or a week), to be eligible for the basic payment and/or a bonus.
Production quota may be used to determine both the bonus payment, and the minimum
amount earned by a worker before bonuses and benefits. For example, many tea workers
are paid a daily rate with an additional amount per kilogram of tea picked.

•

Remuneration: Total financial value (wages, monetary and in-kind benefits) that the worker
receives in a specific period.

•

Job category: The classification of a group of workers by skill, type of tasks performed, andpay.

•

Living wage: The remuneration received for a standard workweek by a worker sufficient toafford a decent standard of living for the worker and their family (as per 15 ILO, 2011 ).

•Standard work week: Hours worked per week (or month) that are standard to the country
or industry and are not paid at overtime rates. The ILO (International Labour Organization)
standard work week is 48 hours.

•

Living wage benchmark: The monetary amount that is considered sufficient to provide aliving wage. This is calculated in local currency for each country. The Rainforest Allianceuses living wage benchmarks developed by the Global Living Wage Coalition (GLWC),
which can be found in the Rainforest Alliance Annex S10: Living Wage Benchmarks per
Country.

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S10 LIVING WAGE BENCHMARKS PER COUNTRY
The Living Wage benchmarks that must be used to calculate the gap to the Living Wage arefound here: https://www.rainforest-alliance.org/resource-item/annex-s10-living-wagebenchmarks-per-country-list/
The benchmark table is updated when new Living Wage benchmarks become available throughthe Global Living Wage Coalition (GLWC).
Living Wage Benchmarks are provided for countries where there are Rainforest Alliance certified
producers. The benchmarks apply on a country level and are provided in local currencies.
The Living Wage benchmarks per country are either:
1. Gross wage in local currency: These are wages measured before taxes are removed orother statutory payroll deductions (e.g., social security taxes or insurances, contributions tonational health systems, pension schemes).
2. Applicable wage: The applicable wage per month is either the applicable minimum wage
or the wage negotiated in a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), whichever is higher.
This is in line with Requirement 5.3.3., which state that Workers receive at least theapplicable minimum wage, or the wage negotiated in a Collective Bargaining Agreement(CBA), whichever is higher.
For countries where no Living Wage benchmark is provided, the applicable wage should be used
to compare the total remuneration for all types of workers until a benchmark becomes available.
Note: The Living Wage requirements (5.4) are not applicable to small farms (including small farms
that hire workers).

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S11 FREE, PRIOR AND INFORMED CONSENT (FPIC) PROCESSES
Requirement 5.8.1 of the 2020 Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Agriculture Standard stipulates thatfarm management of medium, large, and individual farms respects legal and customary rights ofindigenous peoples and local communities. Activities diminishing the land or resource use rights orcollective interests of indigenous peoples and local communities, including areas with High
Conservation Values (HCV) 5 and 6, are conducted only after having received free, prior andinformed consent (FPIC).
This annex contains the Mandatory steps of the FPIC process.
Guidance and examples on how to implement the FPIC process are found in Guidance T: Free,
Prior And Informed Consent (FPIC) Processes.

1. APPLICABILITY
Projects or activities for which an FPIC process is required
FPIC is required if any of the following activities are proposed and could have detrimental effects
on the rights, land, resources, territories, livelihoods, or food security of indigenous peoples or local
communities. FPIC is required if the project or activity will:
1. Convert non-agricultural land into crop production.
2. Convert smallholder cropland used primarily for subsistence or local consumption into land
growing crops for trade and consumption outside the local area.
3. Convert traditional grazing lands into other agricultural land uses that exclude or diminish
the former grazing activities.
4. Increase water withdrawal in a location and to the degree that may significantly reduce
the availability of water for other nearby or downstream human users.
5. Eliminate or diminish access of local peoples or communities to natural ecosystems or otherareas currently used for hunting, fishing, or extraction of plants or their parts for food, fiber,
fuel, medicines, or other products.
6. Take place on or near areas used by local peoples for traditional cultural or religious
activities or is classified as High Conservation Value (HCV) areas under the following
definitions:
HCV5: Sites and resources fundamental for satisfying the basic necessities of local
communities or indigenous peoples (for livelihoods, health, nutrition, water, etc.),
identified through engagement with these communities or indigenous peoples.
HCV6: Sites, resources, habitats and landscapes of global or national cultural,archaeological or historical significance, and/or of critical cultural, ecological,
economic or religious/sacred importance for the traditional cultures of local
communities or indigenous peoples, identified through engagement with these
local communities or indigenous peoples.
In the paragraph Conducting an FPIC process below, the steps of FPIC processes are described.
Step 1 is required in all FPIC processes. Based on the outcomes of Step 1:
1. If the proposed projects or activities do not diminish the rights of indigenous peoples andlocal communities, the applicant is considered compliant with requirement 5.8.1.
2. If the proposed projects or activities diminish the land or resource use rights or collective
interests of indigenous peoples or local communities (including HCVs 5 or 6), the applicant

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is considered compliant only if steps 2 - 6 of Section 5.3 (Conducting the FPIC Process)have been implemented.

Operations which do not require an FPIC process
Certified operations that held a valid Rainforest Alliance certificate as of June 1st, 2020 and are
not planning to initiate any projects or activities for which an FPIC process is required (as definedin the section above), or scope expansions after June 1st, 2020, are considered to have compliedwith requirement 5.8.1 by virtue of having complied with core criterion 4.20 of the 2017 Rainforest
Alliance, Sustainable Agriculture Standard.
Requirement 5.8.1 is not applicable for operations newly seeking certification from June 1st, 2020,
onward, and which are not planning to initiate any projects or activities for which an FPIC process
is required (as defined in the section above).

2. CONDUCTING AN FPIC PROCESSA Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) process must follow the six steps summarized below.
FIGURE 1: STEPS FOR THE FREE, PRIOR AND INFORMED CONSENT PROCESS
Planning,
research &assesment

Scoping

Consultation

Negotiation

Agreement

Implementation

Step 1 – Scopinga) Identify indigenous peoples and local communities with potential interests in the landor resources that the farm proposes to develop, appropriate, utilize, or who may be
impacted by the proposed activity, project, or expansion.
b) Identify any rights, claims, or interests of these communities to land or resources (e.g.,water rights, water access points, or rights to hunt or extract forest products) in or
adjacent to the site(s) or area(s) of the proposed activity, project, or expansion.
c) Identify any sites, resources, habitats, and landscapes of global or national cultural,archaeological or historical significance, and/or of critical cultural, ecological,
economic, or religious/sacred importance for the traditional cultures of local
communities or indigenous peoples which may be impacted by the proposed activity,
project, or expansion. These sites should be identified through engagement with these
local communities or indigenous peoples.
d) Identify whether the proposed activity, project, or expansion may diminish the rights,
claims, or interests identified in Step 1 – b and c. This is the case in circumstances
including, but not limited to, the following:i.

Land currently used by communities, or members of a community, for primarysubsistence activities.

ii.

Communities, or members of a community, would cease to have access, or
would have diminished access, to natural resources used for local consumption
or subsistence.

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Step 2 – Planning, research, and assessmenta) Conduct participatory mapping of land and natural resource use.
b) Assess potential impacts (positive and negative) of the project.
c) Involve independent parties to support the mapping and assessment process.
Communities have the right to choose an independent party that can support them in
the FPIC process. These independent parties could include local NGOs. Independent
parties should also be involved in the FPIC process in order to act as an impartial verifierof compliance with the steps and agreements of the FPIC process.
d) Re-define and revise the project, if necessary, to address potential impacts relative tothe rights of indigenous peoples and local communities.

Step 3 – Consultationa) Provide community representatives with a description of project activities, benefits, andimpacts, presented in a manner that is accessible and appropriate to community
representatives’ education levels and to the cultural context.
b) Allow time for the community to consult internally regarding the acceptability of the
proposed project.
c) Consult the community to determine if they will agree to the project (STOP / GOdecision), and under what conditions.
d) Re-define and revise the project, if necessary, to address the concerns raised by thecommunity during the consultation.

Step 4 – Negotiationa) If the community is amenable to the project, negotiate terms of agreement forproceeding, including provisions such as continued access to the affected lands andresources, just and fair compensation for loss of use of land and resources,
commensurate with such loss, and/or an equitable share in the project benefits.
b) Facilitate access to legal advice for communities to support them in the negotiation
process if necessary. Legal advice and access to independent parties should beavailable to communities throughout the FPIC process, but especially in the negotiation
phase.
c) Develop a plan for participatory monitoring and conflict resolution, which includes anagreed mechanism for the community and its members to raise grievances and havethese grievances duly considered and resolved.

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