The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) has released its new updated Certification and Accreditation Requirements (CAR) which comes into operation on 1 December 2015.
This document sets out all the requirements for independent certification against ASC’s standards and makes a number of improvements to them.
For example it will be able to accommodate feed mills in the future. The CAR also promotes more transparency, making it easier for people to find information in reports, as well as enabling consistent reporting across Conformity Assessment Bodies (CABs). This will improve the assessment process overall.
Bas Geerts, ASC Standards Director, said: "We have worked with CAR v1 for the last three years. Over that period we gained as much practical feedback as possible.
“This feedback, along with the valuable contributions during the consultation phase, has helped improve the robustness of the system. I’d like to extend a big thank you to everyone who was involved and very much look forward to seeing it implemented.”
CAB’s will have six months from December 1 to familiarise themselves with the new version, although they can use either document up until 1 June next year.
The revised CAR will be accompanied by a guidance document to provide clarity and aid interpretation.
ASC will update CABs and Accreditation Services International (the ASC appointed accreditation body) on the changes in the CAR during the ASC training workshop in February.
