Sustainability. UTZ

About UTZ

UTZ is a worldwide certification program that sets the standard for responsible commodity production and sourcing. UTZ means "good" in a Mayan language. Currently UTZ standards exist for Cocoa, Coffee and Tea.
 
The standard
UTZ covers the critical areas from record keeping and pesticide management, through worker health and safety, environmental and social issues and an efficient farm management. Particular empha-sis has been placed on developing meaningful, implementable guidelines that work for both, large estates and smallholder groups. The code enables producers to ensure that their product meets the requirements of the global retail market.
 
The UTZ Code of Conduct is an internationally recognized set of economic, social and environmental criteria for responsible commodity production. Producers (estates as well as smallholder groups), may seek certification as being compliant with the UTZ Code of Conduct.
 
The Chain of Custody Requirements are a set of administrative and technical rules designed to provide a high level of confidence that UTZ labeled good originates from an UTZ source. Producers, mills, exporters, importers, warehouses, traders, roasters, packers and brands may seek certification as being compliant with the UTZ Chain of Custody Requirements.

For more information about UTZ please follow the links to UTZ below:

• For companies (Chain of Custody)
• For Farmers (Code of Conduct)

 
     

UTZ Certification by Ecocert IMOswiss AG

Ecocert IMOswiss AG is one of the most experienced international agencies for inspection, certification and quality assurance in the commodity-sector:
 

• Ecocert IMOswiss AG is approved by UTZ for certifications according to the UTZ Code of Conduct and Chain of Custody crop specific standard.
• Ecocert IMOswiss AG provides UTZ certification for farms as well as for producer groups and production units in both origin as well as destination countries of the commodities.
• Additionally, Ecocert IMOswiss AG offers inspection and certification according to all other important existing standards and codes operational in the commodity sector.
• Due to the special Ecocert Group network with local offices and representatives, we can offer this service all over the world.
• Ecocert IMOswiss AG is one of the most experienced international agencies for inspection, certification and quality assurance in the coffee-sector.

Please contact us in Switzerland (utzcertified@ecocert.com) or your local contact for more information and application documents.

How to become UTZ certified by Ecocert IMOswiss AG

1. Contact IMO via utzcertified@ecocert.com
2. Fill in the the registration form and send it to UTZ CC to us. You will receive a confirmation and your UTZ member number from UTZ.
   
3. Sign a contract with Ecocert IMOswiss AG on the requested certification services.
   
4. Conduct a first self assessment with the regular UTZ product-specific checklists Chain of custody and /or Code of conduct and send it to us.
   
5. We also highly recommend you to read relevant pages of the UTZ Certification Protocol.
   
6. Once UTZ receives and approves your certificate and a summary report of the audit from Ecocert IMOswiss AG you are an certified UTZ member!
   
7. Each time you sell UTZ certified product, you need to inform UTZ. UTZ works with an online traceability system for all crops.

For more information on UTZ please visit the UTZ website OR contact us via utzcertified@ecocert.com.