Assurance Standing Committee
In 2018, RSPO Board of Governors (BoG) endorsed the RSPO Theory of Change (ToC) with the overall vision of making sustainable palm oil the norm.
In March 2019, the RSPO BoG subsequently endorsed the RSPO Governance Review for ‘Reorganisation of Standing Committees, Task Forces and Working Groups’. The Assurance Standing Committee (ASC) was established to provide direction in contributing to the credibility and accountability of the RSPO Assurance System.
Responsibility
- To oversee and provide necessary recommendations and/or guidance to the implementation of the RSPO standards;
- To develop and institute a transparent and robust system for monitoring the quality of assessment;
- To identify all necessary actions to ensure robust assessment, verification and certification against the RSPO standards;
- To institute a transparent and enhance the quality of the RSPO Assurance Systems;
- To identify the relevant stakeholders required to deliver the identified actions and to deliver the outputs as identified by Assurance Standing Committee.
Overview

* final structure to be determined
List of Acronyms and Abbreviations
ISEAL - This represents the ISEAL Alliance global membership association for credible sustainability standards.
ASI - Assurance Services International: accreditation body appointed by RSPO to accredit Certification bodies that conducts RSPO Audits
HCVRN - High Conservation Value Resource Network: a member-based organisation that strives to protect High Conservation Values in areas where the expansion of forestry and agriculture may put important forests, biodiversity and local communities at risk.
HCSA - HCS Approach Steering Group Secretariat: A platform that developed a methodology designed to achieve no-deforestation including refining its definition, its objectives and its relationship to other approaches to halting deforestation.
SEIA - Social and Environmental Impact Assessment
NPP - New Planting Procedure
FPIC - Free, Prior and Informed Consent
CB - Certification Body
P&C - Principles and Criteria
CP - Complaints Panel
DLW - Decent Living Wage
Members
Name |
Organisation |
Membership Sector |
Agus Purnomo (Co-Chair) |
Golden Agri-Resources (representing the Indonesian Growers Caucus) |
Indonesian Growers |
Michael Guindon (Co-Chair) |
WWF Singapore |
Environmental NGO |
Lee Kuan Yee |
Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad (representing the Malaysian Palm Oil Association) |
Malaysian Growers |
Laszlo Mathé |
New Britain Palm Oil Limited (NBPOL) |
Growers RoW |
Vacant |
TBA |
Smallholder Group |
Paula den Hartog |
Rainforest Alliance |
Social NGO |
Paul Wolvekamp |
Both ENDS |
Social NGO |
Marcus Colchester |
Forest Peoples Programme |
Social NGO |
Emily Kunen |
Nestlé |
CGM |
Hugo Byrnes |
Royal Ahold Delhaize N.V |
Retailers |
Olivier Tichit |
Musim Mas Holdings |
P&T |
Michal Zrust |
Lestari Capital |
Financial Institution |
Independent Leads
Name |
Organisation |
Neil Judd |
The Proforest Initiative |
Shinta Puspitasari |
The Proforest Initiative |