4C System
How to get certified
The 4C certification process is composed of three parts
You can find a detailed step-by-step guide in our document library.
1. Preparation for the certification process
1.
Familiarise yourself with the 4C System. Find useful materials about the 4C certification process, all of our key concepts and terminologies, and many more, on our 4C Academy.
2.
Identify your role within the 4C System.
3.
Identify your 4C Unit or the group of facilities that should belong to your Chain of Custody group. Prepare the BPM, which lists all of these actors and their essential data. You can find the latest templates in our document library.
4.
Take responsibility for your group of Business Partners or facilities, inform them about the 4C requirements, and collect their consent of becoming part of the 4C Unit/CoC group.
5.
Implement the 4C certification requirements listed in the Code of Conduct. The 4C audit checklist can help you to prepare by using it as a tool for auto-evaluation and internal auditing. You can find all of these documents in our document library.
6.
Analyse the degree of conformity of your 4C Unit/CoC group with the 4C System Regulations and with all major checkpoints of the 4C audit checklist. Identify potential gaps and needs for improvement. Implement improvement activities in order to prepare adequately for the external audit.
2. Auditing process
1.
Get in contact with a 4C cooperating Certification Body (CB). You can find a list of approved CBs per region.
2.
Set up your account on the 4C Portal. You can find further instructions on how to use the 4C Portal on our 4C Academy.
3.
Submit the BPM to the Certification Body.
4.
The CB will submit the audit application on the 4C Portal, you, as the certification applicant, will confirm it on the 4C Portal. 4C will validate and confirm the audit application.
5.
The CB will coordinate the auditing plan with you and will upload all required information to the 4C Portal. 4C will validate and confirm the audit plan.
6.
Audit will be conducted by the Certification Body.
7.
After the audit, the CB will upload all audit report documents to the 4C Portal and take the certification decision. The decision must be taken within 60 days after the completion of the audit. 4C will validate the audit report documents and in case of a positive result, 4C will publish of the certificate on the 4C website.
3. Maintenance of the certificate
a
In order to maintain your 4C certificate, Annual Surveillance Audits (ASAs) will be conducted. To prepare them, follow the instructions from step one “Preparation for the certification”.
b
Monitor the compliance of your BPs or certified facilities (in the case of a CoC certification) and measure the results and impact of the improvement activities.
c
Maintain your BPM up-to-date and submit it to the CB before the due date of the Surveillance Audit. If an Improvement Plan (IP) was established in the previous audit (due to minor non-confomities), the updated IP must be submitted along with the BPM.
d
Report your sales of 4C certified coffee via the 4C Portal.
e
To find out more about the specific requirements applicable to your organisation, we recommend reviewing the specific module on our 4C Academy or consulting the step-by-step guide in our document library.
Find out more about specific requirements for different types of certificate holders below
Detailed certification process
Coffee/Cocoa Production (CP) certification
The CP certification encompasses the 4C Unit, being composed of the BP Producers, the BP Service Providers, and the Managing Entity.
You can found out more about the detailed steps on our Knowledge Base.
As a preparation for the audit process, you will be required to fill in the BPM.
To guide you through on how to fill it in, please, consult the respective module on our 4C Knowledge Base.
Chain of Custody (CoC) certification
The CoC certification can be obtained by IBs, FBs, Distributers, and Licensees.
You can find out more about the detailed steps in our 4C Academy.
As a preparation for the audit process, you will be required to fill in the BPM.
To guide you on how to fill it in, please consult the respective module on our 4C Academy.
I am unsure which certification scope I belong to
Further Information