ASC releases revised Certification and Accreditation Requirements (CAR)

The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) has reached a major milestone with the release of its updated Certification and Accreditation Requirements (CAR). The new version comes into operation on 1 December 2015.

The CAR sets out all the requirements for independent certification against ASC’s standards. A number of improvements have been made to the CAR, for example, it will be able to accommodate feed mills in the future. It also promotes 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 June 1 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.

This is the first of ASC’s official documents to roll over from a v1.0 to a v2.0.