Recognition of other standards

MarinTrust has a ‘Recognition Procedure’ in place to formally recognise some of the certification programmes which may be equivalent to part or all of either the fishery or factory components of the MarinTrust Standard.

The formal recognition process requires that the certification programme is benchmarked against the MarinTrust standard. The objective of the benchmarking procedure is to award an equivalence grade against each of the MarinTrust factory audit clauses or fishery clauses, to indicate the extent to which the requirements of each clause are covered and examined by the certification programme.

MarinTrust requires that standards formally recognised under the Programme submit an annual summary of changes in line with the current ‘Recognition Procedure’. This is to help determine the ongoing equivalency of the recognised standard. If there are no changes, recognition continues, however, if there are substantial changes, a full review of equivalency is undertaken to determine if recognition should be maintained.

Programmes/Standards recognised

The four standards formally recognised under the MarinTrust Programme are Chilean PAC, Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), GMP+(B2) and Feed Materials Assurance Scheme (FEMAS).

  •  Programa de Aseguramiento de la Calidad (PAC)

Chilean PAC was formally recognised  under MarinTrust Programme in 2019. The Chilean PAC was benchmarked against Section 3.2 of the MarinTrust Standard to determine the Extent of Equivalence in August 2019. The outcome of the benchmark exercise showed that factories certified to the Chilean PAC can be considered to have met requirements equivalent to almost all of those set out in the Section 3.2 of the factory clauses of MarinTrust Standard. 

The annual summary of changes submitted by Chilean PAC in 2022  showed  substantial changes to the Section 3.2 of the factory clauses , therefore, a full review of equivalency was required for the Chilean PAC to determine if recognition should be maintained. Following the full review of equivalency (refer to Chilean PAC recognition Summary 2022) , MarinTrust submitted to the Governing Body Committee (GBC) the approval recommendation for the continued recognition of the Chilean PAC on 4th October 2022. The GBC agreed with the recommendation and the Chilean PAC is formally recognised.

Below diagram provides a visual overview of the level of equivalency of Chilean PAC to MarinTrust factory standard:

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Chilean PAC