Report on Independent Review of RSPO Labour Auditing Guidance (LAG)

The RSPO Secretariat is pleased to announce the completion of the Independent Review of the RSPO Labour Auditing Guidance (LAG), conducted by Dr Rebecca Smalley and Proforest from April to October 2024. The LAG is a voluntary document that aims to enhance assessment components and improve the capacity of auditors to evaluate labour and other social aspects. It underwent an 18-month trial period from November 2022 to May 2024.

Following that, the independent review was commissioned with the following key objectives:

• Assess the effectiveness of the LAG in improving labour auditing practices.
• Identify gaps and challenges in its implementation.
• Assess the feasibility of possible mandatory implementation of the LAG.
• Provide actionable recommendations to support consistency and enhance auditor capacity.

Proforest conducted a desk review analysing labour auditing literature and guidance from ten other standards bodies to create a framework of best practices for evaluating the LAG. The LAG was also assessed against the 2018 P&C Principle 6, and input was gathered through interviews with auditors, certification bodies, palm oil producers, other standards bodies, labour unions, and non-governmental organisations.

The review found that while the LAG provides valuable guidance, it requires improvements in gender-sensitive auditing methods, addressing non-visible labour issues like harassment and forced labour, and better alignment with other RSPO documents including the Certification Systems to minimise overlaps.

The report provides some concrete recommendations, including improving the content of the LAG, identifying aspects that should be made mandatory, clarifying the LAG’s role within the ecosystem of documents, developing protocols and resources to enhance the consistency and quality of RSPO audits, and implementing broader changes to encourage wide implementation of the LAG by certification bodies.

The RSPO Secretariat will internally align on the recommendations provided and thereafter develop a comprehensive work plan based on these. Until the updates are finalised, the LAG remains a voluntary document.