Soya certification schemes

© Ardiles Rante / Greenpeace 11 September 2013 - Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Land clearance in an oil palm concession owned by PT Andalan Sukses Makmur, a subsidiary of Bumitama Agri Ltd.

• The ISPO scheme appears to have weak provisions for sanctions against noncompliant producers, and has demonstrated failures even on basic legal issues such as ensuring proper permit processes are followed and addressing the several million hectares of oil palm plantations located in the forest estate.16 Its lack of strong authority to implement and enforce the certification requirements due to the failure of government agencies to monitor and enforce laws, is a fundamental flaw that greatly reduces its effectiveness.17 • MSPO certification became mandatory from 1 January 2020, with the government threatening fines and possible license revocation for non-compliant producers. 18 According to MSPO Trace, as of February 2021 88% of Malaysian producers were certified under the scheme, including nearly 100% of organised smallholders and plantation companies and 38% of independent smallholders. 19

16 See Forest Watch Indonesia (2017, 30 March) and Hidayat, N. K., Offermans, A., & Glasbergen, P. (2018). 17 See Hidayat, N. K., Offermans, A., & Glasbergen, P. (2018) and Kusumaningtyas, R. (2018). 18 Bernama (2020, 10 July), Efeca (2020b) 19 https://mspotrace.org.my/Home