New MSC Certification Requirements
The MSC scheme for fisheries and chain of custody certification has been subject to many improvements and changes over the last decade. Invariably this has led to an ever increasing number of MSC scheme documents, issued in various forms, such as methodologies, directives, policy advisories amongst others. On 15 August 2011, MSC concluded a yearlong project to consolidate all these requirements within a single document – the new MSC Certification Requirements.
The MSC Certification Requirements is the main normative document for certification bodies to follow when assessing fisheries or chain of custody clients. ASI also follows these requirements when auditing applicant and accredited MSC Certification Bodies. Its uniform structure and style makes the MSC requirements more accessible to auditors. To increase consistency in certification body auditing and reporting, several templates and checklists are provided (i.e. MSC Full assessment reporting template, MSC Group audit checklist). The MSC Certification Requirements will be in use from 14 November 2011.
