UEBT standard revision 2025

Public consultation ends on 31 August 2025

Background

In line with international best practice and our own standards development procedure, UEBT reviews its standard every five years.

As part of this review we look at:

continued relevance of the standard's outcomes against the UEBT intended sustainability outcomes and impacts as outlined in our Theory of Change, and
continued effectiveness of the standard in meeting its stated objectives as found in our standards’s Terms of Reference.

Results of the review of the standard

The review of the standard was carried out in 2024. We analysed relevant data, information, and learnings from the implementation of the standard since the last revision in 2020. The standard was also discussed with UEBT members at the UEBT members’ exchange in October 2024. The general feedback was that:

The UEBT standard remains fit for its purpose, however significant experience has been gained since its release in 2020.
A revision should focus on clarifying some aspects of the standard, and reducing complexity where needed.
A revision should be based predominantly on the experiences of regular users of the standard.
The standard could be better aligned with: evolving regulatory requirements, the most recent UEBT monitoring and evaluation insights, the strategic direction to deepen UEBT’s work on human rights, working conditions, just remuneration and livelihoods, strengthened guidance added to the UEBT field checklist to clarify current indicators, the continued partnership with Rainforest Alliance on herbs & spices, and the new partnership with SAI Platform on wild-harvested botanicals.

What is under revision in 2025

Based on these considerations and feedback, UEBT will undertake a limited standard revision focused on improving the standard where needed for clarity, or improved applicability or impact.

We do not intend to introduce completely new topics or to make significant changes to the scope of the standard.

Key considerations for this limited revision are:

promoting long-term economic, social and ecological supply chain resilience,
not making any changes that significantly increase compliance threshold or burden for organisations using the standard, and
ensuring as much continuity as possible for organisations using the standard.

Objectives of the revision

Consider impacts on supply chain resilience, including economic, social, and ecological factors.
Secure feedback of organisations assessed against the UEBT standard, organisations using the UEBT standard as part of their responsible sourcing strategies, and organisations that have conducted assessments using the standard.
Reduce complexity of the standard where possible without affecting its intended impact.
Clarify some indicators to improve auditability or implementation.
Clarify and include any required definitions and indicators to align with relevant international instruments and regulatory requirements.
Where possible, further introduce outcome or impact indicators in order to focus on results.
Strengthen approaches for continued engagement and continuous improvement.
Consult stakeholders on the possible unintended effects of the standard.

Timeline for the consultation

As defined in UEBT’s standards development procedure, at least one round of stakeholder consultation input will be held. This round of input will end on 31 August 2025. The standard revision should be finalised by the end of 2025.

All comments will be considered carefully. A summary of comments and how they were addressed will be provided after the consultation period ends.

We invite you to contribute

Since its founding, UEBT has offered a platform where companies committed to sourcing with respect for people and biodiversity, can share their experiences and insights, and where other affected stakeholders can also engage.

How to comment

UEBT offers many ways for interested stakeholders to participate in our standards revision process:

Online - via our comment form (see resources on the right of the page). We prefer this option if possible, as this will help us process your comments more efficiently.
In-person and online - in our local consultation workshops and stakeholder interviews.

UEBT will reach out to all stakeholders via different communications tools (mailings, LinkedIn etc.). Special efforts will be made to reach out to underrepresented stakeholders such as producers and field operators (farm workers, and wild-collectors / pickers). We also aim to promote gender balance among stakeholders.

Participate to the online survey here

Other ways to comment

If you have problems using these two methods above, please contact your local UEBT representative (see all contacts here) or UEBT at info@uebt.org to discuss way to best provide inputs.

Governance bodies and decision making

The UEBT Standard and Assurance Committee oversees the process and recommends approval of the revised standard to the UEBT Board of Directors.

The UEBT Board of Directors evaluates if the revision process it is asked to evaluate is duly followed and endorses the recommendations from the Standard and Assurance Committee.

More information

Description of the U EBT standards development procedure
Terms of reference for revision of UEBT standard
Terms of reference for Standard and Assurance Committee.
View the UEBT 2020 standard that will be replaced by the UEBT 2025 standard - also available in French | Spanish | Portuguese | German | Vietnamese

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is UEBT seeking guidance on?

UEBT is particularly interested in hearing the views of users of the standard on the key changes from the 2020 version. These changes (on criteria or indicators) are highlighted at the top of each of the sections of the Consultation draft, to ensure they are easily identifiable. Comments and feedback are also welcome on other aspects of the standard.

Will the number of requirements be reduced? How will the revision maintain balance between rigor and reducing burdens for small-scale producers?

The Consultation draft has been developed to reduce complexity and, where possible, reduce the number of requirements compared to the 2020 version. The goal is to balance rigor with reducing burdens for small-scale enterprises. In addition to focusing on this during the standard consultation process, UEBT will also focus on reducing complexity during the development of the Field Checklist that flows from the published standard. The Field Checklist will be developed after the new UEBT standard is published. It is the document that provides guidance to auditors and to those entities being assessed on what evidence needs to be considered for each indicator.

Will the UEBT standard revision be aligned with the Rainforest Alliance’s standard to ensure the continuation of the Herbs & Spices Programme?

Our intention is to align with the Rainforest Alliance during the next phase of the UEBT standard revision when we develop our Field Checklist. The Field Checklist is used for supply chain assessments in our verification and certification programmes. It includes, for example, guidance for indicators and what evidence should be assessed. In the UEBT/Rainforest Alliance Herbs & Spices Programme there is a separate Field Checklist that lists the UEBT/Rainforest Alliance requirements. These are based on the UEBT standard and complemented by select Rainforest Alliance requirements. As was done in the previous UEBT standard revision in 2020, UEBT will work with Rainforest Alliance to ensure alignment that fully supports the Herbs & Spices Programme.

How will the standard ensure that ‘biodiversity regeneration’ or other UEBT standard principles are leading to measurable results?

UEBT has introduced new outcome and impact indicators that have been tested in the field in recent years. The goal of these new indicators is to improve the results of the standard and drive more impact. You will see these various changes in the Consultation draft and we welcome your further comments on these.

What regulatory frameworks have been incorporated into the Consultation draft?

On the biodiversity side, UEBT has incorporated good practice on how to compile biodiversity information in line with EUDR. On the social side, UEBT has clarified the standard in terms of the process and components of due diligence (including human rights due diligence), in line with international instruments and evolving national requirements.

Will UEBT create specific guidance or indicators for highly sensitive sectors?

UEBT intends for the standard to be globally applicable, however there are times when we have created sector specific guidance. To ensure local applicability, UEBT is holding consultation workshops during this period in Brazil, Bulgaria, China, India, Madagascar, Türkiye and Vietnam. For more information, contact your UEBT local representative.

How does the standard help companies go beyond minimum compliance and invest in long term change?

The standard will continue to have a continuous improvement approach, with levels of importance of UEBT indicators where additional changes must be incorporated over time (e.g. critical stepwise, regular, regular stepwise). The UEBT membership platform is also set up to drive continuous improvement through the conditions and obligations members must follow, including a commitment to continuous improvement and monitoring progress against a three-year workplan, among other actions members take.

What is the process to finalise the standard?

After the public consultation closes, UEBT will review all of the feedback and provide a summary of these comments to our Standard and Assurance Committee that oversees the process. If there are issues where consensus has not been reached, the Committee may propose solutions or require UEBT to carry out additional targeted or issue-specific consultations. These will be announced publicly. Once the Standard and Assurance Committee recommends the final standard to the UEBT Board of Directors, the Board then checks that the overall process was followed correctly, and if so, they endorse the new standard and it is published on the UEBT web site. Learn more by clicking on the links above in the ‘Governance and Decision Making’ section of this web page.

Once the standard is published on the UEBT web site, there is still more work to be done to update the UEBT verification and certification programmes. This includes updating auditor guidance, training materials, checklists, and translations.

What is the transition period for coming into compliance with the new standard?

We aim to make the transition process as smooth as possible. For UEBT verification and certification programmes, transition options will be made available, and the 2020 standard will continued to be used for a period of time. Our goal is to give certification and verification clients adequate time to comply. We will share more details on this once the new standard is published.