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RSPO certification links palm oil products back to oil palm growers certified to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil's standards. To buy, process or sell palm oil products as RSPO certified, every company that takes legal ownership of them and physically handles them needs its own RSPO Supply Chain Certification from an RSPO-accredited certification body. Kiwa ASI (ASI Food Safety, LLC) isn't an RSPO certification body and doesn't issue RSPO certificates; only the certification bodies on RSPO's accredited list can. Contact Kiwa ASI and we'll answer your questions about RSPO and about certifying the same site to SQF or another food safety program.
Last updated September 30, 2026
Tell us about your palm ingredients and sites, and we'll follow up with answers.
RSPO certification comes from the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, a global non-profit founded in 2004 by WWF, the Malaysian Palm Oil Association, Unilever, AAK and Migros. It has three standards. Oil palm growers and their mills are certified to the RSPO Principles and Criteria (P&C), and independent smallholders to the Independent Smallholder Standard. Everyone after the mill that takes legal ownership of certified palm oil and physically handles it, such as refiners, ingredient makers and manufacturers, is certified to the Supply Chain Certification (SCC) Standard.
Certification is voluntary and carried out by independent certification bodies, not by RSPO. RSPO certification bodies are accredited by Assurance Services International, which isn't related to Kiwa ASI. Kiwa ASI (ASI Food Safety, LLC) isn't an RSPO certification body and doesn't issue RSPO certificates; only the certification bodies on RSPO's accredited list can.
A company that takes ownership of certified palm oil and physically handles it can't sell it or label products as RSPO certified until it holds a supply chain certificate and an active licence on prisma, RSPO's trading platform. See who needs it.
RSPO's 2026 Impact Report counts 16.2 million tonnes of certified sustainable palm oil produced in 2024, about 20% of global supply.
Supply-chain-certified facilities in 97 countries at the end of 2025, including 1,215 in North America.
Grower-certified area across 23 countries at the end of 2025, with 567 certified mills.
RSPO members in 103 countries at the end of 2025, from growers to manufacturers, retailers and banks.
Every organization that takes legal ownership of RSPO certified palm oil products and physically handles them needs Supply Chain Certification to sell or label them as certified. It stops at the company that makes the final product.
Refineries, fractionators and palm kernel crushers that buy and process certified crude oil or kernels.
Makers of shortenings, emulsifiers, fatty acids, glycerin and other palm-based ingredients and derivatives.
End-product manufacturers that use certified palm ingredients and want to make RSPO claims, from bakery and snacks to personal care.
Outsourced processors work under a signed contract and are risk-assessed by the certification body. A contractor with its own supply chain certificate needs no extra audit.
Companies that physically handle and sell bulk, unpackaged palm oil need certification. Traders that never physically handle the product need an annual RSPO licence instead.
Retailers that produce their own-label products in-house are end-product manufacturers and need certification.
You don't need Supply Chain Certification if you: only sell finished end products without modifying them, as retailers, wholesalers and distributors do; or trade certified product without physically handling it (you need an annual RSPO licence instead). Processing aids can be left out of scope. Growers and mills are certified to the P&C, and independent smallholders to the Independent Smallholder Standard.
RSPO certification lets you sell and label palm oil products as certified, and shows buyers your sourcing has been independently checked.
Brand owners and retailers with sustainable palm oil commitments can only buy your product as RSPO certified if you're certified. RSPO also sets uptake targets for its downstream members.
Certified members with an RSPO trademark licence can label products with the RSPO trademark and an approved claim.
The audit checks supplier certificates, purchase and sales records, segregation or mass balance accounting, and your prisma transactions.
Identity Preserved, Segregated, Mass Balance or RSPO Credits, so you can start where your supply chain is and move up over time.
Certification can feed the risk assessment the EU Deforestation Regulation requires, although it doesn't replace due diligence. RSPO's prisma platform adds sharing of plot location data in November 2026.
Independent certification gives you documented evidence behind "sustainable palm oil" claims, which U.S. marketers must still substantiate under the FTC Green Guides.
U.S. refiners, manufacturers, traders and importers are certified to the Supply Chain Certification Standard. The Principles and Criteria apply to the growers and mills at the start of the chain.
For every company after the mill that takes ownership of certified palm oil products and physically handles them, plus independent mills.
For oil palm growers and their mills: 7 principles balancing People, Planet and Prosperity. The 2024 P&C replaced the 2018 version and has been mandatory since June 1, 2026.
For groups of independent smallholders, with requirements scaled to small farms. The 2024 version has applied since November 13, 2025.
How members use the RSPO trademark and make on-pack and off-pack claims for each supply chain model.
Revision coming: RSPO is revising the Supply Chain Certification Standard. A first draft was open for public consultation from March 16 to May 14, 2026. Board endorsement hasn't been confirmed, and RSPO's Secretariat has proposed a 12-month transition once the new version is adopted. Until then, audits use the 2020 Standard. See RSPO's review page.
RSPO has four supply chain models. The first three are certified chain-of-custody models, and a site can use one or a combination. The fourth, Book and Claim, works through RSPO Credits.
Certified palm oil from a single certified mill, kept physically separate from all other oil all the way to the end user.
Certified palm oil from several certified mills, mixed together but kept separate from non-certified oil.
Certified and non-certified oil can be mixed. Certified volumes are controlled on paper at site level and reconciled continuously or over a period of 3 months or less.
Buy RSPO Credits on prisma to support certified production. One credit equals one tonne of certified product; the oil you receive is conventional. Credits last 1 year and can't be resold.
A site can only keep its supplier's model or move to a less strict one, in the order IP, SG, then MB. Mass Balance claims can't be moved from one site to another. Independent mills use IP and/or MB.
The certification body audits your site against the general requirements of the SCC Standard 2020 and the module for each supply chain model you use. Your site must have been operating at least 3 months before the initial audit. Audits are on site; remote audits are allowed only in limited cases, such as surveillance audits for micro users, Book and Claim audits, trademark audits for retailers and traders, and force majeure.
| Requirement | What the auditor checks |
|---|---|
| Membership and prisma | Your site or parent company is an RSPO member registered on prisma; mills, traders, crushers and refineries record shipments within 3 months of delivery |
| Procedures and people | Written procedures covering the Standard and a training plan for staff |
| Suppliers and purchasing | Supplier certificates or licences checked for validity every month, and certified inputs received as claimed |
| Your supply chain model | IP and SG product kept separate from non-certified oil; Mass Balance accounts never overdrawn, or balanced over 3 months or less |
| Outsourcing | Contract processors under a signed contract, with you keeping legal ownership and the certification body given access |
| Records and internal audit | Records kept at least 2 years, an annual internal audit and an annual management review |
| Claims and trademark | Sales documents, claims and on-pack labels follow RSPO's claims rules, with your trademark licence number |
| Complaints | A documented procedure for receiving and resolving stakeholder complaints |
There's no score or grade. Your certificate is valid for 5 years with annual surveillance, but only while your annual prisma licence is active.
| Audit | When | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Initial audit | Year 0 | All non-conformities closed before certification; RSPO says certificates usually follow within 1–2 months |
| First surveillance | 8 to 12 months | Within 12 months of the certificate date, but not earlier than 8 months |
| Surveillance | Every year | Before your licence expires; without an approved extension of up to 3 months, the certificate is suspended |
| Re-certification | Year 5 | Full recertification audit in the fifth year |
Every supply chain non-conformity is graded major. All must be closed before the certificate is issued. If they aren't closed within 3 months of the audit, a full re-audit is required.
You have up to 1 month to address each non-conformity, then the certification body reviews it within 14 days. If it's still open, the certificate is suspended, and it's terminated if not fixed within 3 months of the audit.
A supply chain breakdown, such as selling non-certified product as certified, suspends the certificate immediately. A suspended site must stop all certified claims and tell its customers within 3 business days. Unannounced audits can follow complaints or risks, with at least 3 working days' notice. Source: RSPO Supply Chain Certification Systems 2020.
The label is optional. Using the RSPO trademark needs a trademark licence from RSPO, granted when you become a member, and the licence number must appear right next to the label or claim. Each model has its own tag:
At least 95% of the palm oil content is Identity Preserved or Segregated. Tag option: "This product contains certified sustainable palm oil."
At least 95% of the palm content is Mass Balance. The tag doesn't guarantee the pack itself contains certified oil; it contributes to certified production.
At least 50% IP, SG or MB, with the rest covered by RSPO Credits. No other percentage is allowed.
All palm ingredients covered by RSPO Credits or certified material. The claim can't suggest the product contains certified oil.
On-pack claims are for members with supply chain certification, plus retailers, traders and distributors that pass a remote trademark audit. RSPO bans negative claims such as "palm-free is better," and where its rules conflict with national law, the law wins. See RSPO's Rules on Market Communications and Claims.
RSPO certification is a voluntary market standard. These rules apply whether or not you're certified.
The Green Guides cover environmental marketing claims, including business-to-business. Third-party certification doesn't remove your duty to substantiate what a claim like "sustainable palm oil" communicates.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection can detain palm oil made with forced labor. On September 29, 2026, it issued Withhold Release Orders on palm oil and derivatives from two Indonesian producers, Mitra Aneka Rezeki and Hardaya Inti Plantation.
Palm oil placed on the EU market or exported from it falls under the EUDR from December 30, 2026 for large and medium companies and June 30, 2027 for micro and small ones. More palm derivatives, including soaps, fatty acids, fatty alcohols and crude glycerol, are added from December 30, 2027.
No U.S. federal law requires RSPO certification. Buyers ask for it in their sourcing policies and contracts.
Certification doesn't replace the law. The EU says certification can support an EUDR risk assessment but doesn't replace due diligence, and RSPO says the same. For food safety certification, compare Kiwa ASI's SQF certification and BRCGS certification.
RSPO publishes its standards and certification rules free on rspo.org. Start with the Supply Chain Certification documents.
RSPO figures on this page come from RSPO's Impact Report 2026 and program documents, checked September 30, 2026.
Certification body fees and RSPO's own fees are separate. Budget across these areas:
Initial, surveillance and recertification audits, quoted by the certification body for your sites, models and volumes. RSPO publishes no audit fees.
Required for certification, at your site or parent company. Manufacturers, processors, traders and retailers pay €2,000 a year; Supply Chain Associates buying under 500 tonnes a year pay €100.
Members vote on November 4, 2026 on raising these to €3,500 a year, and to €250 a year (billed €500 every two years) for Supply Chain Associates, from January 1, 2027.
Charged once in the chain: on physical shipments from the mill to the first buyer, and on RSPO Credits to the credit buyer. From October 1, 2026, it's US$1.95 per tonne or credit for certified palm oil.
If you use Book and Claim, you buy credits on prisma at market prices, plus the trade fee.
Procedures, segregation or mass balance records, prisma transactions, internal audits and staff training.
There's no extra charge for prisma beyond the trade fee. See RSPO's membership categories and trade fee changes. For audit pricing, ask certification bodies on RSPO's accredited list for quotes.
Getting certified takes 9 steps in three phases: setting up your system (steps 1–6), the audit and certification (7–8) and keeping it current (9). Your system must run for at least 3 months before the initial audit, and RSPO says certificates usually follow within 1–2 months of closing the last non-conformity.
Check whether you take legal ownership of certified palm oil products and physically handle them, or whether an exemption applies, such as selling only finished end products.
Your site or parent company becomes an Ordinary member, or a Supply Chain Associate if you buy under 500 tonnes a year. Membership comes with the trademark licence.
Pick Identity Preserved, Segregated and/or Mass Balance, and single-site, multi-site or group certification. List your sites, products and any contract processors.
Confirm each supplier holds a valid RSPO certificate or licence for what you'll buy, and set up monthly checks.
Document how you receive, store, process and sell certified product; keep records for at least 2 years; train staff; and set up a complaints procedure.
Operate for at least 3 months before the initial audit. Test segregation or Mass Balance reconciliation, and run your internal audit and management review.
Choose a certification body from RSPO's accredited list, and agree the audit scope, duration and cost in its contract.
Close every non-conformity before certification, within 3 months of the audit. The certification body then issues your certificate and requests your prisma licence.
Keep your licence active, pass surveillance audits every year (the first at 8–12 months), follow the claims rules on labels and recertify in year 5.
Live virtual Kiwa ASI courses for the auditing and supplier-control skills an RSPO supply chain relies on. These aren't RSPO courses.
Plan, run and report internal audits, such as the annual internal audit the RSPO Supply Chain Certification Standard requires.
Full day · Live online · 8:30 AM–2:30 PM CT
Dates on request. Ask about upcoming dates
Food fraud vulnerability assessments and mitigation plans for your ingredients and suppliers.
Live virtual · Instructor-led
Dates on request. Ask about upcoming dates
The FSPCA Preventive Controls for Human Food course, including the supply-chain program for approving and verifying ingredient suppliers.
FSPCA V2.0 · 5 half-days · Live via Zoom · 8:30 AM–12:30 PM CT
Dates on request. Ask about upcoming dates
Need training for 6+ people at your site? Ask about on-site private training.
A U.S. food safety certification team that's clear about what it does and doesn't certify.
Contact Kiwa ASI and we'll answer your questions about RSPO and about certifying the same site to SQF or another food safety program.
Kiwa ASI isn't an RSPO certification body. No Kiwa group company currently holds RSPO accreditation. Check any certification body on RSPO's accredited list before you sign.
Kiwa ASI audits and certifies U.S. food sites to SQF and other food safety programs, for manufacturers whose buyers require both RSPO and GFSI food safety certification.
Part of Kiwa, a testing, inspection and certification group with more than 12,000 people in more than 35 countries.
Kiwa ASI training is delivered separately from audits and certification, and taking it has no bearing on any audit or certification outcome.
RSPO certification is the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil's program for sustainable palm oil. Growers and mills are certified to the RSPO Principles and Criteria, independent smallholders to the Independent Smallholder Standard, and every company after the mill that takes ownership of certified palm oil and physically handles it to the Supply Chain Certification Standard. Products can only be sold or labelled as RSPO certified when every company that owns and handles them along the way is certified.
U.S. refiners, ingredient makers, manufacturers and bulk traders are certified to the RSPO Supply Chain Certification Standard 2020, which is still in force while RSPO revises it. The Principles and Criteria apply to oil palm growers and their mills, not to buyers.
Any organization that takes legal ownership of RSPO certified palm oil products and physically handles them, including refiners, crushers, oleochemical and ingredient makers, end-product manufacturers, contract processors and sellers of bulk palm oil. See who needs it.
Retailers, wholesalers and distributors that sell finished end products without modifying them don't need it. Traders that never physically handle the product need an annual RSPO licence instead of certification. Certification stops at the company that makes the final product.
No. Kiwa ASI (ASI Food Safety, LLC) isn't an RSPO certification body and doesn't issue RSPO certificates; only the certification bodies on RSPO's accredited list can. No Kiwa group company currently holds RSPO accreditation. Contact Kiwa ASI and we'll answer your questions about RSPO and about certifying the same site to SQF or another food safety program.
All RSPO certification bodies are accredited by Assurance Services International, which has no connection to Kiwa ASI. ASI Food Safety, LLC's own ANAB accreditation covers SQF and CanadaGAP, not RSPO. RSPO publishes the list of accredited certification bodies.
Identity Preserved (certified oil from a single certified mill, kept separate), Segregated (certified oil from several certified mills, kept separate from non-certified oil), Mass Balance (certified and non-certified oil mixed, with certified volumes tracked on paper) and Book and Claim, where companies buy RSPO Credits. See the models.
The 2024 P&C, mandatory since June 1, 2026, has 7 principles for growers and mills: act transparently, ethically and responsibly; operate legally and with accountability; optimise productivity, demonstrate traceability and create positive impacts; respect community and human rights, and deliver benefits; support and provide opportunities for smallholder inclusion; respect workers' rights and working conditions; protect, conserve and enhance ecosystems as responsible environmental stewards. It replaced the 2018 P&C. The 8-principle list still found on many websites is the 2013 version.
A supply chain certificate is valid for 5 years, with annual surveillance audits (the first 8 to 12 months after it's issued) and recertification in the fifth year. It's only valid while your annual licence on prisma, RSPO's trading platform, is active.
Yes. Your site or its parent company must be an RSPO member and registered on prisma. Manufacturers, processors, traders and retailers join as Ordinary members (€2,000 a year); companies buying under 500 tonnes a year can join as Supply Chain Associates (€100 a year). On November 4, 2026, members vote on raising these fees from 2027.
Every supply chain non-conformity is graded major. At the initial audit, all must be closed before certification, and if they aren't closed within 3 months, a full re-audit is required. At surveillance audits, you have 1 month to address them, and if they're still open after the certification body's review, the certificate is suspended. See the audit.
Your system must be running for at least 3 months before the initial audit. RSPO says a company can usually be certified within 1 to 2 months of closing its last non-conformity. The overall timeline depends on how ready your procedures, suppliers and records are.
Audit fees are quoted by the certification body for your sites and models. RSPO membership is €2,000 a year for Ordinary members or €100 for Supply Chain Associates, and RSPO's trade fee is US$1.95 per tonne or credit for certified palm oil from October 1, 2026. Ask certification bodies on RSPO's accredited list for audit quotes.
You need supply chain certification and an RSPO trademark licence, and the licence number must appear next to the label. The tag depends on your model: CERTIFIED for Identity Preserved or Segregated, MIXED for Mass Balance, 50% MIXED for partial claims and CREDITS for Book and Claim. See labels and claims.
Not on its own. The EU Deforestation Regulation applies to palm oil from December 30, 2026 for large and medium companies and June 30, 2027 for micro and small ones. Both the EU and RSPO say certification can support the risk assessment but doesn't replace the company's own due diligence.
prisma is RSPO's online platform for licences and certified trading. It replaced PalmTrace on February 2, 2025. Everyone who uses it needs a licence, and for certified members the certification body requests the licence after each audit.
Yes. Independent smallholder groups are certified to the 2024 Independent Smallholder Standard, which has applied since November 13, 2025.
No. It's a voluntary market standard. U.S. companies still have to substantiate environmental claims under the FTC Green Guides, and palm oil made with forced labor can be detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. See U.S. and EU rules.
Tell us about your palm ingredients and sites, and we'll follow up with answers.
RSPO certification bodies are accredited by Assurance Services International; see RSPO's accredited list. Kiwa ASI (ASI Food Safety, LLC) isn't an RSPO certification body, and no Kiwa group company currently holds RSPO accreditation. Kiwa ASI's ANAB accreditation covers SQF and CanadaGAP. Kiwa ASI training is delivered separately from certification.