The Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP) Standard for Sustainable Rice Cultivation (the Standard) is the world’s first voluntary sustainability standard for rice. The Standard is in a questionnaire format and assesses a producer’s progress towards sustainable cultivation across 46 requirements.
In the U.S., the SRP NIG USA is the questionnaire instrument that should be used to assess a producer’s progress towards sustainable cultivation. The SRP NIG USA is based on the SRP Standard on Sustainable Rice Cultivation v.2.0 and was approved for use in the U.S. in May 2020.
The SRP Assurance Scheme defines rules for actors engaged in measuring compliance or demonstrating improvements, providing demonstrable evidence of compliance with the SRP Standard and Performance Indicators and the use of SRP trademarks (Claims, Logos or Label) upon achieving assurance.
SRP has developed an Internal Management System (IMS) Standard as a separate normative document. Compliance with the requirements defined for IMS is mandatory for all producer groups and all multi-site operations which implement an IMS.
The Chain of Custody (CoC) Standard is the core standard that specifies requirements for all Chain of Custody-verified and applicant organizations with respect to sourcing, processing, labelling, and sale of rice-based products as SRP-Verified. All organizations in the supply chain – from farmer to the entity implementing final packaging of products carrying an SRP claim – shall be covered by the SRP CoC certification system, to be managed by an SRP-approved CoC Certification Body.
Use of SRP Claims/Logos/Labels is permitted only in accordance with the SRP Assurance Scheme and the SRP Member Communication and Claim/Logo/Label Guidance (Annex 7 of the SRP Assurance Scheme). Use of SRP Claims/Logos/Labels is dependent on verification of responses to the questionnaire instrument, membership status, location of display, and the level of assurance (Levels 1, 2, or 3).SRP only grants the respective producer, producer group or supply chain partner (“Licensee”) the nontransferable and non-sublicensable right to use the SRP Claims and/or SRP Logo and/or Label in accordance with the relevant terms and provisions of the SRP Assurance Scheme and the SRP Member Communication and Claims/Logo/Label Guidelines.
This list of suitable documentation needed to substantiate responses to the SRP NIG USA (electronically submit to verifier) can serve as a starting point for the verification.
The Brand Manual sets out principles and policies to uphold brand value and provides branding guidance for use of the SRP Organizational logo and SRP-Verified Label, including technical specifications, and including various usage situations and illustrations of correct usage.
The Standard is complemented by a set of 12 quantitative Performance Indicators. By identifying ‘hotspots’, the Indicators enable users to monitor impacts of adoption of climate-smart best practices- as well as other field interventions such as training.
