The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) is a non-profit association that unites stakeholders to develop and implement global standards for sustainable palm oil. The RSPO has developed a set of environmental and social criteria which companies must comply with in order to produce Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO) and help to minimise the negative impact of palm oil cultivation on the environment and communities in palm oil-producing regions.
Find out more about RSPO at - https://rspo.org/
ISEAL Code Compliant organisations have successfully adhered to our previous Codes of Good Practice (Standard-Setting, Impacts and Assurance) and have committed to aligning their systems to the ISEAL Code. Independent evaluations against the ISEAL Code commenced in October 2025, and organisations must demonstrate full adherence to the ISEAL Code by October 2029 to maintain their ISEAL Code Compliant status.
Please note, all ISEAL Code Compliant members are also ISEAL Community Members.
The ISEAL Code came into effect on 1 March 2024. Organisations that had adhered to the previous Codes of Good Practice were granted an 18-month transition period to align their system(s) with the ISEAL Code. For further information, visit: What is ISEAL Code Compliant.
From October 2025, independent evaluations against the ISEAL Code will commence in accordance with the Independent Evaluation Procedure. ISEAL Code Compliant organisations are required to successfully close an evaluation across the full scope of the ISEAL Code. This can be done through a single, full-scope evaluation or through phased specific-scope evaluations. Evaluations must be completed within four years of the end of the transition period, no later than October 2029, to maintain ISEAL Code Compliant status.
Details on the evaluation schedule will be made publicly available.
As a result of this independent evaluation, RSPO has made the following improvements to how they set their standards:
- They independently reviewed their standards revision process, updated their standard setting standard operating procedure and Theory of Change.
- Put in place measures to ensure that their standards revision consultation included diverse perspectives.
- Created a dedicated email address for stakeholders to raise concerns about the standards revision and made this publicly available.
- Put in place plans to create a central platform to manage and update stakeholder lists more efficiently in future.
As a result of this independent evaluation, RSPO has made the following improvements to their assurance system:
- Evaluated risks and demonstrated that arrangements are in place to cover liabilities arising from its operations.
- Have a monitoring process in place to identify and mitigate misrepresentation or corruption by third parties.
- Informed Certification Bodies, that where technical experts or translators are used, the report must contain names and affiliations.
- Provided training to assurance staff involved in the certification process.
- Described publicly to stakeholders how they may provide input into the assurance process.
As a result of this independent evaluation, RSPO will make the following improvements to their M&E system:
- Update the core Monitoring and Evaluation indicator list.
- Ensure consistency between the Monitoring and Evaluation indicator list and the revised Theory of Change.
ISEAL Code Compliant members provide publicly available reports that give a comprehensive and accessible overview of a member's system.
ISEAL System Overview Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil 2022