The Unit of Certification shall comply with all applicable and relevant legal requirements*.

*National Interpretations shall determine all applicable national and local laws/regulations, including any ratified international laws and regulations.

A documented system to ensure legal compliance shall be developed and implemented, with process(es) in place to track changes to any applicable and relevant laws/regulations. The system shall include evidence of legal due diligence/evaluation of legal compliance of contractors.

Evidence* of the Unit of Certification’s legality of land operations shall be available. Legal or authorised boundaries shall be clearly demarcated and visibly maintained, and planting is within these legal or authorised boundaries.

*National Interpretations shall define the evidence required based on the country's context.

The Unit of Certifcation shall maintain a list of the UoC's contractors*.

*Contractors involved in activities within the scope of the RSPO Principles and Criteria, including contractors providing operational services, supplying labour, or supplying FFB.

All contracts involving the Unit of Certification's contractors shall require the contractor to meet and demonstrate compliance to applicable and relevant national and local laws/regulations.

All contracts involving the Unit of Certification's contractors shall disallow the use of child labour, forced/trafficked labour, and collection of recruitment fees (and related costs) from workers by the contractor.

For all directly sourced FFB, the mill(s) within the Unit of Certification shall obtain documentation on the FFB origins and legality.

Documentation* shall include:
A) Geolocation of the FFB origin;
B) Evidence of legal status of the land (including tenure and user rights) of the supply base or smallholder; and
C) Where applicable, evidence of a legal business licence for the buying and selling of FFB.

*National Interpretations shall determine commonly accepted local practices and customs for FFB legality that are generally accepted to be on a par with legal standing or accepted by authorities (e.g., native courts).

For all indirectly sourced FFB, the mill(s) within the Unit of Certification shall engage with such suppliers to ensure the FFB's traceability and legality. The UoC shall provide the annual percentage of its indirectly sourced FFB volume with available documentation during audits to demonstrate progress towards traceability and legality.

Documentation* shall include:
A) Geolocation of the FFB origin;
B) Evidence of legal status of the land (including tenure and user rights) of the supply base and/or smallholder; and
C) Where applicable, evidence of a legal business licence for the buying and selling of FFB.

*National Interpretations shall determine commonly accepted local practices and customs for FFB legality that are generally accepted to be on a par with legal standing or accepted by authorities (e.g., native courts).

The Unit of Certification shall develop a policy or policies to respect the human rights of Workers, Contractors, Suppliers, Affected Communities, and Human Rights Defenders. The policy or policies shall prohibit Negative Actions against affected stakeholders including Human Rights Defenders, complainants, whistleblowers, and/or community spokespersons who lodge complaints against the UoC.

The policy or policies shall be publicly available.

The policy or policies shall be implemented by the Unit of Certification and its contracted security services. The policy or policies shall be socialised to affected stakeholders in a language understood by them.

The Unit of Certification shall establish and implement an accessible and impartial grievance system.

The system shall:
A) Ensure confidentiality or anonymity, if requested;
B) Be appropriate for potential complainants, especially workers and affected communities;
C) Take into account any specific needs of women and children;
D) Maintain independence and impartiality in handling grievance(s);
E) Not prevent the use of other judicial or non-judicial processes independent of the UoC on the same issue by either party; and
F) Provide safeguards to avoid potential reprisals or intimidation of complainant(s) as the result of lodging grievance(s).

The Unit of Certification shall ensure availability, access, and socialisation of the grievance system to relevant stakeholders, especially workers and affected communities, in appropriate language(s) and format(s).

Assistance shall be provided to relevant stakeholders including illiterate stakeholders or vulnerable groups who may face challenges during socialisation or gaining access to the grievance system.

The status of grievance(s) shall be recorded, maintained, and kept up-to-date. All grievance(s) raised shall be responded to, and should be resolved or be in the process of resolution.

Records/documentation of grievance(s) shall include:
A) Steps taken to resolve grievance(s);
B) Procedures outlining the timeline in addressing the raised grievance(s);
C) Outcomes of grievance resolution processes;
D) Unresolved grievance(s), including status, issues affecting resolution, and steps taken by UoC for potential resolution; and
E) Verification that a complainant (and their representatives, if any) are updated and informed on the progress and status of a case, in a language they understand.