ASC Farm and Feed Certification and Accreditation Requirements (CAR)

ASC Farm and Feed Certification and Accreditation Requirements (CAR)

Scope

Part A sets out the requirements for the Conformity Assessment Body (CAB) to follow when undertaking certification activities relating to the ASC certification programmes.

Normative Documents

The documents listed below are a mandatory part of the ASC Farm and Feed Certification and Accreditation Requirements (CAR). For references without dates or version numbers, the most recent edition of the document referred to applies.

  • ISO/IEC 17065 Conformity Assessment – Requirements for bodies certifying products, processes and services
  • ISO 19011 Guidelines for auditing management systems
  • ISO 9001 Auditing Practices Group Guidance on: REMOTE AUDITS

Scope

Part B outlines the operational certification requirements for CABs to follow when auditing Clients and their Unit of Certification (UoC) against ASC Requirements; from the application phase until the certification decision and throughout the certificate lifetime. It also covers additional procedures such as transfer of certificates.

Certification Type

There are four types of ASC certification:

  1. Single site
  2. Multi-site
  3. Group – Option 1
  4. Group – Option 2.

The requirements for each certification type are detailed in Table 1 and Table 2 below.

Table 1: Requirements for Single Site and Multi-site Certification Types for ASC Farm and ASC Feed Certification

Certification Type
Req .Single SiteMulti-site
1The Client’s UoCconsists of one site.The Client’s UoC consists of more than one site, without a central Internal Management System (IMS).

All sites within the UoC shall be selected for every routine CAB audit against the applicable ASC standard.
2The Client (Certificate Holder66Client granted ASC certification for a specific UoC.) shall be capable of signing a binding contract that is legally enforceable.
3The Client shall be the only entity authorised to sell ASC certified product.
4The site shall be owned by the Client and the Client shall retain ownership of the ASC product until it is sold outside the UoC.The site(s) shall be owned by the Client, additional site(s) may be sub-contracted; the Client shall retain ownership of the ASC product until it is sold outside the UoC.
5The site shall have clearly defined boundaries as described in the associated legal licences and permits, and may include multiple pens, cages, ponds, tanks, raceway systems or beds.
6The production site and any associated facilities shall have defined location and area.
7All sites in the UoC shall operate within the same country.

Table 2: Requirements for Group Certification Types for ASC Farm Standard Certification

Certification Type
Req.Group Option 1Group Option 2
1The Client’s UoC consists of more than one farm site, controlled by a central IMS which is managed by a Group Management Body (GMB).The Client’s UoC consists of more than one farm site, controlled by a central IMS which is managed by a GMB

The sites are predominantly small- scale producers.
2The IMS shall be audited at every routine CAB audit.

A sample of sites within the UoC shall be selected for every routine CAB audit against the ASC Farm Standard.
3The Client shall identify a GMBwith a defined location, which is not necessarily the headquarters of the organisation.

The group management function shall not be sub-contracted to an external organisation.
The Client is the GMB. The GMBshall be a legal entity or a statutory body within a larger legal entity, or another form of legally recognised organisation i.e. registered with a government office.

TheGMB shall have a defined location, which is not necessarily the headquarters of the organisation.

The group management function shall not be sub-contracted to an external organisation.
4The Client (Certificate Holder77Client granted ASC certification for a specific UoC.) shall be capable of signing a binding contract that is legally enforceable.
5The Client shall be the only entity authorised to sell ASC certified product.
6The sites shall be owned by the Client or can be sub-contracted; the Client shall retain ownership of the ASC product until it is sold outside the UoC.The sites shall have a Farming Agreement with the Client (GMB).

In these cases, the farmer owns the ASC product and shall sell the ASC product to the Client before the Client can sell the ASC certified product outside the UoC.

If the farmer sells the site’s product directly to another third party, the product cannot be sold as ASC certified.

Farmers can be responsible for the operation of either single or multiple sites which are small-scale producers.
7The site shall have clearly defined boundaries as described in the associated legal licences and permits, and may include multiple pens, cages, ponds, tanks, raceway systems or beds.
8All sites in the UoC shall operate within the same jurisdiction or within neighbouring jurisdictions that share relevant common regulations.
9The GMB shall be in charge of managing the IMS and of assuring conformity against ASC Requirements of all sites within the UoC.