The UTZ CERTIFIED Code of Conduct for Tea has been tested in a series of pilot projects in Indonesia and Malawi over a period of 12 months. Feedback from these projects and from stakeholders in many other producing countries has provided input for the final version. The Code consists of two parts: one for farms and one for factories. This way specific labor,quality and environmental issues in factories are also explicitly addressed.

Three estates of the Indonesian PTPN VIII group have now been certified, making them the first UTZ CERTIFIED tea estates. In Malawi the first certificates were issued this week. As a direct result of the implementation of the UTZ Code, producers in the pilot projects have improved their environmental and social practices (such as abandoning the use of crop
protection products near streams, and better health and safety conditions for their workers). Additionally, the overall management capacity of the producers has improved through structural changes in the area of documentation and accountability, increasing professionalism on the estates.

In its new generation Codes of Conduct, UTZ CERTIFIED pioneers a stepwise certification approach, whereby producers are certified based on an annually increasing number of requirements. This ensures an achievable entry level against a lower up-front investment and then a clear growth path towards full compliance, taking care at all times to include core
environmental and social criteria, for instance in the area of child labor and deforestation. UTZ CERTIFIED offers an inclusive and integrated program. To support estates and smallholders in reaching certification, it works closely with its strategic partner Solidaridad. As a development organisation with a long track record in sustainable trade, Solidaridad
helps producers to translate the concept of certification into reality and to obtain certification. The tea pilots were realised with the generous support of the Douwe Egberts Foundation.

The first reactions from producers are encouraging. David Saywood, General Manager at Nchima Estates in Malawi comments: “UTZ has reinforced an understanding between the company, the staff and the community that we need to build a sustainable future. I am impressed with the progressive nature of the UTZ process.”

In a bid to ease the burden on producers in origin, UTZ CERTIFIEDhas entered into an agreement with the Ethical Tea Partnership (ETP), an established alliance of international tea packers who share a vision for a thriving industry that is socially just and environmentally sustainable.