What is a surveillance audit and when must a surveillance audit be conducted?
The surveillance audit requirements apply for economic operators certified under ISCC EU and ISCC CORSIA, they do not apply under ISCC PLUS. In case of an economic operator who is certified under both ISCC EU and ISCC PLUS, the surveillance audit requirements also apply.
Mandatory surveillance audits have to be conducted by the certification body six months after the first (initial) certification of any economic operator in a high-risk supply chain. A high risk applies to economic operators that are collecting, processing, storing or trading materials, which may be eligible for extra incentives in individual EU Member States (e.g. double-counting), such as waste and residues or waste and residue-based products.
For collecting points and traders that are dealing with both waste and residues (e.g. used cooking oil or animal fat) and with virgin vegetable oils (e.g. palm oil, rapeseed oil), a surveillance audit shall be conducted three months after the first (initial) certification (covering the first mass balance period). This surveillance audit shall be conducted in addition to the surveillance audit that has to take place six months after the first certification and shall follow the same risk-based approach. Surveillance audits shall always be conducted on-site. The surveillance audits should mainly focus on traceability requirements, e.g. the verification of delivery documents and mass balances.
Further information about surveillance audits under ISCC EU is available in the ISCC EU document 203: Traceability and Chain of Custody.
Further information about surveillance audits under ISCC CORSIA is available in the ISCC CORSIA document 204: Audit Requirements and Risk Management.
ISCC EU 203 – Traceability and Chain of Custody
The requirements described in this document apply to all elements of the supply chain of sustainable materials that have to be covered by certification (farms or plantations, point of origins of wastes and residues, first gathering points, central offices, collecting points for waste and residues, processing units, and traders and storage facilities).
ISCC CORSIA 204 – Audit Requirements and Risk Management (v2.0, 18 December 2023)
This document lays down how to conduct audits under ISCC CORSIA, including adjusting audit intensity in accordance with the risk management process.
The requirements described in this document apply to all elements of the supply chain of sustainable materials that have to be covered by certification (farms or plantations, point of origins of wastes and residues, first gathering points, central offices, collecting points for waste and residues, processing units, and traders and storage facilities).