Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

We herewith inform you about updates and clarifications in the ISCC System. Please share this information with all relevant members of staff.

1. Update ISCC Documents

ISCC Document 208 “Logos and Claims” 

ISCC has updated the ISCC Document 208 “Logos and Claims”. The revised document provides amongst others new on-product logos and offers a style guide covering graphical requirements as well as examples of possible claims for each certification approach.

Please find the revised document here on the ISCC website.

ISCC List of Materials

ISCC has updated the ISCC list of materials:

Table 1 “Raw Materials”

  • Palm Kernel was moved to Table 2 “Intermediate and final products”

Table 2 “Intermediate and final products”

  • Biobutane and Biobutene were added
  • Liquefied Petroleum Gas of biomass origin (Bio-LPG) was added
  • Cereal germ (oil), e.g. from wheat or corn / maize, was added

 The current version of the ISCC list of materials (as of 26 March 2019) is available here in the client section of the ISCC website (login required).

ISCC Templates

Due to the recognition of ISCC PLUS for certain biofuel deliveries to Japan, ISCC has updated the template for the “ISCC PLUS Sustainability Declaration”. The required information on GHG values of biofuel deliveries to Japan can now be included in the template.

In addition, ISCC has recently updated the layout of the ISCC PoS template “Proof of Sustainability (only for final biofuels)”.

All templates can be downloaded here in the client section of the ISCC website (login required). The use of the templates provided by ISCC is voluntary.

2. Modified ISCC PLUS Requirements for Economic Operators Producing or Handling “Multi-Component Products” in the Biochemical Sector

Based on feedback and inquiries from the biochemical sector, ISCC has reviewed the requirements for documentation and traceability under ISCC PLUS. Mass balance is one of the traceability options under ISCC that can be applied in the biochemicals sector. The mass balance approach guarantees the traceability of sustainability characteristics for specific batches of certified sustainable products. Mass balancing allows the physical mix of sustainable materials with different sustainability characteristics and/or with non-sustainable materials. The information about the sustainability characteristics and the size of the batches with differing sustainability characteristics has to remain assigned to the mixture on a bookkeeping (or mass balance) basis. Sustainability characteristics under ISCC EU and ISCC PLUS include:

  • the “type of raw material” (e.g. corn, rapeseed, soybean, etc.)
  • the “country of origin”
  • information on “greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions”
  • the “waste/residue status of the raw material”
  • potential “claims” (e.g. ISCC compliant and/or RED compliant or application of voluntary add-ons)

Products derived from biochemicals can consist of multiple different bio-based components (so-called multi-component products), all having (one or more) individual sets of sustainability characteristics. These multi-component products may also contain certified sustainable components and non-certified components at the same time. Examples for multi-component products are paint and lacquer. Please note that a batch of a material (e.g. bioethanol) that consists of different individual sustainability characteristics is not considered a multi-component product. Particularly in case of such certified sustainable multi-component products, the documentation of the different sustainability characteristics on sustainability declarations and respective mass balancing calculations will become increasingly complex. ISCC aims to provide a pragmatic certification approach fur such multi-component products certified under ISCC PLUS. Therefore, ISCC has decided to classify the sustainability characteristics “type of raw material” and the “country of origin” as voluntary for these chemical multi-component products. This means that the requirements on documentation will be reduced and a recipient of a multi-component product receives a sustainability declaration with a reduced set of information. The sustainability requirements for ISCC certified raw materials (at the beginning of the supply chain) remain unchanged.

This option may only be applied by ISCC PLUS certified economic operators producing or handling “multi-component products” in the biochemicals sector and operators receiving certified multi-component products from the biochemicals sector.

The “type of raw material” and the “country of origin” remain mandatory sustainability characteristics in all other ISCC certified supply chains. The above option does not apply to:

  • economic operators certified under ISCC EU as the “type of raw material” and the “country of origin” are mandatory in the framework of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED)
  • ISCC PLUS certified economic operators producing or handling sustainable products that do not consist of multiple components (e.g. rapeseed or soybean, vegetable oils, bioethanol, etc.)
  • ISCC PLUS certified economic operators that are not in the biochemicals sector

This new option can be applied with immediate effect. An adjustment of the respective ISCC PLUS document will be published shortly.

In case of questions regarding the practical implementation, ISCC may be contacted for further guidance.

3. ISCC EU: Expired Recognition of the Voluntary Scheme “HVO Renewable Diesel Scheme for Verification of Compliance with the RED Sustainability Criteria for Biofuels”

The decision of the European Commission to recognise the voluntary scheme “HVO Renewable Diesel Scheme for Verification of Compliance with the RED Sustainability Criteria for Biofuels” has expired on 30 January 2019. The scheme has applied for an extension of the recognition.

In a letter from 25 February 2019, the European Commission recommended that the recognised voluntary schemes continue to accept evidence from the voluntary scheme “HVO Renewable Diesel Scheme for Verification of Compliance with the RED Sustainability Criteria for Biofuels” until 31 August 2019.

ISCC follows the recommendation of the European Commission. This means that ISCC EU certified system users may accept deliveries from suppliers that are certified according to the above-mentioned scheme until 31 August 2019 at the latest.