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. Clarification on Recertification Audits in Case of Changing Scope
2. Clarification on the Requirement of Individual Certification as Point of Origin for Palm Oil Mills and Refineries
3. ISCC EU: Postponement of Implementing Accreditation Requirements for Certification Bodies
4. ISCC Credit Transfer System in Public Consultation Phase
5. Update of ISCC CORSIA Certification System
    5.1 System Documents
    5.2 Audit Procedures
    5.3 List of Materials
    5.4 Summary Audit Report Template
    5.5 Sustainability Declaration and Proof of Sustainability Templates
    5.6 Self-declarations For Farms/Plantations

1. Clarification on Re-certification Audits in Case of Changing Scopes

All ISCC recertification audits are retrospective. This means that the recertification audit focuses on the verification of operations that took place and claims that were made during the previous certification period. If a System User removes a certified scope for the next certification period, the removed scope still must be audited retrospectively. For newly added scopes, for which a retrospective audit is not possible, the audit shall focus on the procedures required to appropriately implement and apply the ISCC requirements (please see chapter 4.2.1 of ISCC EU 201 – System Basics v4.0).

2. Clarifications on the requirement of individual certification as Point of Origin for Palm Oil Mills and Refineries

With the System Update of 28 April 2023, individual certification as Point of Origin for Palm Oil Mills and Refineries supplying waste and residues material under ISCC EU has become mandatory. Additional information is included in the dedicated FAQs on the ISCC website, point 6.

Operational units, which were certified as Collecting Points collecting waste and residues from Palm Oil Mills and Refineries in the previous certification period can no longer accept this material under a Collecting Point scope. They will have to add the Trader scope to their certificate or have their scope adjusted as Trader if they continue to receive waste and residues material from Palm Oil Mills and Refineries, which are now individually certified as Points of Origin. 

In such cases, during the recertification audit of the operational unit the auditor shall:

• verify that the ISCC requirements for the scope of Trader are met for the next certification period.
• verify that the ISCC requirements for the scope of Collecting Point were met in the previous certification period. This includes on-site audits of all Points of Origin, which supplied liquid waste and residue material under a signed self-declaration in the previous certification period. This requirement is still mandatory also in those cases, in which the Point of Origin is already individually certified by the time of the recertification period of the Collecting Point.

3. ISCC EU: Postponement of Implementing Accreditation Requirements for Certification Bodies

In a communication from 13 December 2023 the European Commission informed the Voluntary Schemes about the postponement of implementing the requirements of Art. 11(1) of the Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/996. 

Art. 11(1) of the Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/996 covers accreditation requirements for Certification Bodies. The European Commission had asked the EU Member States for their feedback on the implementation of these requirements. Based on the feedback they concluded that more time would be required for the implementation of this requirements. This postponement will be formalized in an additional Implementing Regulation that is currently being prepared by the European Commission and can be expected to be published shortly. 

4. ISCC Credit Transfer System in Public Consultation Phase

The ISCC Credit Transfer System is a new system set up to extend the traceability of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) transactions and sustainability claims downstream of SAF delivery to the airport. It allows the transfer of sustainability claims between SAF suppliers, aeroplane operators, logistics providers and end-customers, thereby helping to bring credibility to and scale-up the voluntary SAF market. 

By making use of ‘credits’ as basic units of traceability within the system, participating organizations can transfer SAF claims via a standardized electronic registry operated by ISCC to partner organizations in their downstream value chain, allowing them to claim the SAF’s sustainability benefits (e.g., the GHG emissions reduction) in exchange.

The System Document, available in the Public Consultation webpage, explains the background and motivation for setting up the ISCC Credit Transfer System, lays out its Guiding Principles and details the general functioning of the system, including the handling of credits within the Registry (i.e., registration, transfer and retirement of credits). It furthermore includes requirements for auditing and verification as part of the ISCC Credit Transfer System.

We invite your feedback on the System Document and the provisions it contains. Your input will be carefully considered to further refine and help develop the ISCC Credit Transfer System.

The consultation phase is still open until 7 January 2024. We very much welcome your feedback both on the public consultation webpage as well as in bilateral discussions.

Thank you in advance for your feedback!

5. Update of ISCC CORSIA Certification System

5.1 System Documents

We would like to inform you that the ISCC CORSIA System Documents have been updated to version 2.0. Please find the updated System Documents on the ISCC website here.

This update is necessary in order to reflect the expansion of the ICAO-approved CORSIA sustainability criteria for CORSIA’s First Phase, starting in 2024. At the same time, several other changes have been made in order to further harmonize the ISCC CORSIA certification standard with the ISCC EU and PLUS certification standards. Overall, the extent to which changes have been made is limited. A summary of changes is included at the beginning of each System Document to facilitate understanding of the relevant changes compared to the respective previous version of the System Document.

The new System Documents become applicable from 1 January 2024 (earlier application possible on voluntary basis).

We would like to clarify that, from 1 January 2024 (i.e., with the start of applicability of the updated System Documents), the distinction between ISCC CORSIA and ISCC CORSIA PLUS will only be applicable to Farms/plantations, Central Offices of Farms/plantations and First Gathering Points. In practice, this implies that

• Farms/plantations, Central Offices of Farms/plantations as well as First Gathering Points will be able to choose to go for either ISCC CORSIA or ISCC CORSIA PLUS certification.
• Processing Units, Traders (with or without storage), Warehouses, Logistic Centers, as well as Points of Origin for wastes, processing residues and by-products will become certified under ISCC CORSIA only.

Please see ISCC CORSIA System Document 202 for a description of the requirements that economic operators will have to comply with in order to become ISCC CORSIA or ISCC CORSIA PLUS certified, respectively.

The information as to whether an agricultural raw material is ISCC CORSIA or ISCC CORSIA PLUS certified will be transmitted through the supply chain on sustainability declarations.

ISCC CORSIA PLUS certificates for Processing Units, Traders, Warehouses, Logistic Centers or Points of Origin, the validity of which extend into 2024, will remain valid for the remainder of their validity period. Upon recertification, an ISCC CORSIA certificate will be issued.

5.2 Audit Procedures

The ISCC CORSIA audit procedures for Farms/plantations, Points of Origin and Chain of Custody have been updated to version 2.0, to reflect the respective changes made to the System Documents.

Please find version 2.0 of the audit procedures (in pdf format) on the ISCC website here. Certification bodies will find version 2.0 of the audit procedures in word format in the ISCC client section.

Please note that the integration of the updated ISCC CORSIA audit procedures into ISCC’s Audit Procedure System (APS) is currently ongoing and will follow in early 2024.

5.3 List of Materials

The ISCC CORSIA list of materials has also been updated. In essence, the list has been restructured to facilitate understanding with regard to which materials are eligible under CORSIA as well as whether any additional specifications must be taken into account for certification.

Please find the updated list of materials on the ISCC website here.

5.4 Summary Audit Report Template

The summary audit report (SAR) template for ISCC CORSIA has been updated to version 2.0, to include more CORSIA-specific questions.

Certification bodies will find version 2.0 of the summary audit report (in word format) in the ISCC client section.

Please note that following the integration of the ISCC CORSIA audit procedures into APS in early 2024, the SAR for ISCC CORSIA will be able to be generated automatically through APS (in line with SAR generation under ISCC EU and ISCC PLUS).

Sustainability Declaration and Proof of Sustainability Templates

The templates for Sustainability Declaration and Proof of Sustainability have been updated to version 2.0.

Please find version 2.0 of the Sustainability Declaration and Proof of Sustainability templates in the ISCC client section.

The following points have been amended in each template.

Sustainability Declaration:

• The tick boxes for “CORSIA compliant” and “ISCC CORSIA PLUS compliant” have been removed, as the distinction between raw material certified under either ISCC CORSIA (or another ICAO CORSIA-approved certification scheme) or ISCC CORSIA PLUS is forwarded via the statements under “2. Scope of certification of raw material”.
• Slight re-wording of statements under “2. Scope of certification of raw material”, to reflect distinction between ISCC CORSIA certified material and ISCC CORSIA PLUS certified material.

Proof of Sustainability:

• Inclusion of additional box “Original CEF batch information”. The information requested here is determined by the CORSIA eligible fuel (CEF) producer and must be forwarded/reproduced by downstream entities in their PoS. This will allow ICAO to reconcile CEF volumes reported by certification schemes with those reported by aircraft operators.
• The tick boxes for “CORSIA compliant” and “ISCC CORSIA PLUS compliant” have been removed (see above)
• Slight re-wording of statements in “2. Scope of certification of raw material”, to reflect distinction between ISCC CORSIA certified material and ISCC CORSIA PLUS certified material

5.6 Self-declarations for Farm/Plantations

The ISCC CORSIA self-declaration templates for farms/plantations have been updated to version 2.0. This update was necessary to reflect the changes to the System Documents.

No changes have been made to the self-declarations for used cooking oil (UCO) or other waste/residues/by-products.