News

MarinTrust’s process on handling remote MarinTrust Factory and MarinTrust Chain of Custody audits came into effect in April 2020 following the Covid-19 outbreak. The temporary requirements have been reviewed and amended and have been extended by an additional 6 months, remaining valid until 31 March 2021 or until further notice - whichever comes first.

As a third-party certification programme, MarinTrust does not carry out the factory audits or make decisions based on them, and the remote audit policy therefore outlines the temporary requirements that will be followed by MarinTrust’s approved Certification Bodies (CB). More particularly, the new risk assessment approach developed by MarinTrust will enable the CB to assign a level of risk (low medium or high) in order to determine if the facility may undergo a remote audit.

The main features of the  policy are listed below and can be read in full here:

• All Re-certification applicants to either standard whose certification is due to expire within the validity date of this policy (31 March 2021) are now permitted to be put forward for remote auditing. They shall have their current certificate extended by a period of 6 months.
• Where an onsite audit is not possible, certified sites in affected areas[1] may be granted a 4-month window allowance to conduct Annual Surveillance Audits
• All new applications to either standard shall have their onsite audit postponed until the travel restrictions for the relevant location have been relaxed.

Francisco Aldon, CEO of MarinTrust, explained:

“Certificate holders and supply chains are still being affected by the pandemic. We want to take into consideration the welfare of all those involved in the MarinTrust certification system whilst maintaining the credibility of our programme. We have included a risk assessment approach which will allow our approved Certification Bodies to assess case by case the level of risk associated with the effectiveness and robustness of conducting audits remotely on a facility. Previously, only surveillance audits could be conducted remotely. Now, together with the risk assessment approach, recertification audits too may be conducted in line with the guidance.”

MarinTrust sends its best wishes to all stakeholders and interested parties during this unprecedented and difficult time. If you have any further questions about how the current pandemic will affect your certification, please get in touch via [email protected]

Contact:

Francisco Aldon, CEO of MarinTrust

[email protected]

[1] “Affected areas” are considered those countries, provinces, territories or cities experiencing ongoing transmission of COVID-19, in contrast to areas reporting only imported cases.” https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/travel-advice

About MarinTrust:

IFFO RS Ltd (09357209), formally transitioning to MarinTrust, is the leading independent business to business certification programme for the marine ingredient value chain, consisting of:

- the MarinTrust for Responsible Supply,

- the MarinTrust Chain of Custody for Responsible Supply

- and the MarinTrust Improver Programme.

Since opening for application in October 2009, over 150 plants in 27 different countries have gained MarinTrust certification and over 50% of the worlds combined production of marine ingredients is MarinTrust compliant. To find out more visit www.marin-trust.com.