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Date: 17 March 2020

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Circular for the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) Certification Scheme in lieu of Covid-19 Outbreak

 

Due to the current situation on the Covid-19 pandemic as announced by the WHO on Monday, 16th March 2020 and the Malaysian Government’s announcement on partial nationwide lockdown last night, with exception of essential services (ref. Laws of Malaysia, Act 177, First Schedule, Essential Services, Section 2.); which applies w.e.f. Wednesday, 18th March 2020 until 31st March 2020; MPOCC will be allowing the postponement of field audit activities up to 3 months to support government directives to mitigate the spread of the disease.
 

Please be guided by the following:
 

1. All Accredited Certification Bodies (ACBs) and Certification Bodies (CBs) in the process of certification should establish an internal operating procedure with risk assessment to deal with certified entity that may be or is affected by Covid-19.
    

2. Surveillance audits or the validity of certificate (recertification) may be extended to no more than 3 months.
    

3. Further guidance will be provided by MPOCC based on government directives on the Covid-19 outbreak related travel restrictions before the 3 months period comes to an end.
    

4. When travel restrictions are lifted, audits shall be conducted as per ISO 17021 requirements and other applicable procedures.
    

5. For recertification audit, the certificate shall be suspended if the audit did not take place within 2 months once the travel restrictions have been lifted.
    

6. Oil Palm Management Certification (OPMC)
   - No remote audit is allowed.
    

7. Supply Chain Certification (SCCS)

      - Remote auditing techniques utilising ICT tools (ref. IAF MD 4 & ISO 17021) may be used and is allowed under the following conditions:
 

      a) If it is not an initial or recertification audit;
      b)There is no significant risk i.e. certified procured raw materials, no non-conformity in previous audit or corrective action can clearly be verified           via other auditing techniques;

      c)There is no physical possession. 

 

   8. Kindly inform MPOCC within 3 working days on any changes affecting any certificates.
 

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Addendum To Circular for the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) Certification Scheme in lieu of Covid-19 Outbreak

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In reference to the circular issued on the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) Certification Scheme in lieu of Covid-19 Outbreak dated 17 March 2020, MPOCC will be allowing the postponement of field audit activities up to 3 months to support government directives to mitigate the spread of the disease.

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1. The Circular cover audits that should be carried out during the Movement Control Order and/or affected by travel restrictions due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

2. In reference to Point No.2 Surveillance audits or the validity of certificate (recertification) may be extended to no more than 3 months, the Circular applies to cover Stage 2 audits as well.

 

 

Date: 01 April 2020

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With reference to the extension of the MCO and related travel restriction matter by the Government of Malaysia, a Circular has been issued to cover audits that should be carried out during the Movement Control Order and its extension and/or are affected by travel restrictions due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

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1. MPOCC will be extending Point No.2 of the Circular and Point No.2 of the Addendum dated 1 April 2020 to cover: stage 2 audits, surveillance audits or recertification audits of which the validity of certificate falls between March – May 2020; shall be extended from 3 months to 6 months. Subsequent to the above, remote audits shall be conducted within this period for certified entities which operate businesses as usual.

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   2. For certified entities for which audits have to be conducted from June 2020 onwards can choose to be audited via remote audit (OPMC &                 SCCS) followed up by field audit (for OPMC only). In referring to Point No. 7 of this Addendum, the complete audit must be concluded before           the end date of 30 November 2020.

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   3. Where remote audit is conducted, the ACB shall carry out the field audit for OPMC within 3 months from the date of the remote audit.

 

      The ACB is required to counter verify the remote audit findings during the field audit and the final report shall capture the accuracy or deviation         of the compliance to ensure that there is no gap in implementation of the MSPO Standard requirements.

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  4. MPOCC has developed a guidance OPMC checklist on ‘Remote Audit Allocation’ which shall be referred to for both remote and field audit. The        checklist is downloadable at the link, https://www.mpocc.org.my/guidance-documents

 

  5. In reference to Point 7 of the Circular, remote audit shall also applies to all Supply Chain Certification audits. Remote auditing techniques                  utilising ICT tools (ref. IAF MD 4 & ISO 17021) is allowed and the following previously stated conditions in Point 7 are revoked:

 

• If it is not an initial or recertification audit;

• There is no significant risk i.e. certified procured raw materials, no non-conformity in previous audit or corrective action can clearly be verified via other auditing techniques;

• There is no physical possession. 

 

  6. As usual, ACBs should upload the complete MSPO audit report with findings during both the remote and field audits to MSPO Trace; indicating        which were audited remotely, the date(s) of the remote portion of the audit, the auditor(s) who conducted the remote audit, and the methods            used. ACBs shall also clearly specify and justify where required if there is deviation from the norm.   

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  7. MPOCC will only allow this combined method of audit i.e. remote (OPMC & SCCS) with field (OPMC) audit up to 30 November 2020.                        Thereafter auditing shall be resumed as per ISO 17021 requirements and other applicable procedures.

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  8. For certified entities which are currently not operating as usual or have limited infrastructure for facilitation of remote audits, ACBs are to                   assess the risk for continuing certification and understand the certified organization’s current and expected future situation.

 

      The ACB should gather the necessary information from the certified organization before deciding on an appropriate course of action e.g. to               further defer audits, or to apply suspension or reduction of scope). The information collected by the ACB should include the following as                   appropriate (as adapted and modified from IAF ID3):

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      • When will the organization be able to function normally?

      • When will the organization be able to perform the service or supply certified products defined within the current scope of certification?

      • Will the organization need to use alternative production and/or manufacturing / processing sites? If so, are these currently covered under the            current certification or will they need to be evaluated?

      • Does existing production / processing still meet customer specifications or will the certified organization contact its customers regarding                    possible concessions?

      • Will some of the processes and/or services performed or products be subcontracted to other organizations? If so, how will the other                          organizations’ activities be controlled by the certified organization?

      • To what extent has the operation of the management system been affected?

      • Has the certified organization conducted an impact assessment?

      • Identification of alternative sampling sites, as appropriate

 

      In the event that an audit cannot be carried out for this category, the ACB is required to advise MPOCC on their status and constraint. MPOCC        may then categorise the certified entity as inactive, which means that it is not operating as usual and will not be allowed to sell MSPO certified        products or place a claim on their product.

 

      For the above situation, the audits that should be carried out or delayed will be permitted up to 3 months once the certified entities resumes              normal operations or until 30 November 2020 whichever that is later.

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   9. Additional guidance (as adapted and modified from IAF ID3).

 

      a) Recertification Audits

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      Normally the recertification audit must be completed and the recertification decision made prior to the expiry date to avoid los s of certification          (ISO/IEC 17021).

 

      However, providing that sufficient evidence has been collected as above, to provide confidence that the certified management system is                    effective, consideration may be given to extend the certification for a period not normally exceeding 6 month beyond the original expiry date.

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      The recertification shall be carried out within this permissible extended period.

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      Otherwise, a new initial audit should be performed. The expiry date of the renewed certification should be based on the original recertification          cycle. Thus, the 1st annual surveillance shall be conducted within the 1st annual surveillance of the expiry date to harmonize the 5 years’ time          frame into the cycle of the certificate issued.

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Date: 27 April 2020

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Date: 1 October 2019 [as extracted from Circular for the Scheme for the Accreditation of Certification Bodies

          (The ACB Scheme) under the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) Certification Scheme].

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          23 October 2019 [adoption of circular into MPOCC MSPO Certification Scheme Document (MSPOCS01)]  

 

The documents as mentioned has been emailed out to related stakeholders on the respective date as stated above.  

 

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Notice on Engaging Certification Bodies Not Listed on MPOCC’s Website 

 

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All Certification Bodies (CBs) that are competent to carry out MSPO certification must first be accredited with the Department of Standard Malaysia (DSM), which is the national Accreditation Body (AB) to be recognised as Accredited Certification Bodies (ACBs). This is necessary to ensure that all CBs that conduct audits under the MSPO Certification Scheme are competent to carry out credible and consistent audits as ACBs.

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Under the MSPO Certification Scheme, MPOCC shall only recognize ACBs or CBs undergoing DSM’s accreditation process i.e. applicant CBs as listed on MPOCC’s website. (As per email shoutout announcement sent out on 28th May & 13th June 2019).

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Non accredited CBs which are still undergoing accreditation process may be listed on MPOCC’s website on a goodwill basis, for a duration of 6 months; only from the date of acceptance of application for accreditation by DSM.

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During the 12 months application for accreditation period, the applicant CB is allowed to issue a maximum of only four (4) non-accredited certificates for MS 2530. The combination of these four (4) non-accredited certificates shall consist of all the MS2530 standard series comprising Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4. 

 

For MSPO Supply Chain Certification Standard, applicant CBs must be accredited to carry out MS 2530: Part 4 and are allowed to issue a maximum of only (3) non-accredited certificates. 

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MPOCC will not be held responsible for non-accredited certificates issued by non-accredited and applicant CBs. 

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MPOCC will not publicly report the certified areas and certified volumes by non-accredited or applicant CBs until they obtain accreditation and can then issue accredited certificates to its clients. It is the respective CBs’ responsibility to inform its client on this matter.

 

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