Complaint and appeal handling procedure

COMPLAINTS

VCC&C receives complaints via statement, telephone, email, website or in writing.

Upon receipt, the secretary shall fill in monitoring log the content of the complaint, report to the Complaint and Appeal Committee, and, at the same time, send a reply to the client / complainant to confirm the receipt of the complaint.

VCC&C shall do an appraisal to assess risk of anonymous complaints, but VCC&C is under no obligation to investigate the complaint if there is no sufficient preliminary evidence or information. Complaints submitted on behalf of a group, such as a community or labor organization, shall have at least one viable contact person to manage communications and further inquiries.

The Complaint and Appeal Committee shall be responsible for investigation of the complaint. Depending on the case and issue of the complaint, the Complaint and Appeal Committee shall designate an appropriate person to investigate. Designated person shall be ensured that there is no relation with the complainant.

In 10 working days, the Complaint and Appeal Committee shall inform related parties (complainant and Rainforest Alliance) about steps to be taken for resolving and results to be expected.

During investigation, investigation audit is taken to clarify the complaint, meet with related parties to verify necessary information associate with the complaint.

If complaint is right, VCC&C shall have appropriate corrective action and corresponding decision, and immediately advise the complainant and related parties in 30 days.

If the investigation audit does not reach the result and need more time to complete, VCC&C shall advise related parties.

VCC&C shall follow up on specific grievances as requested by Rainforest Alliance.

Commercial or intellectual proprietary information about the audited operation shall not be divulged in any public documents about the complaint without the written consent of the CH.

All documents that relate to process of receipt, investigation and resolution are documented and reported in annual meeting of Technical Advisory Board.

VCC&C ensures not to use personnel who have relation to the complainant or participated in the audit process.

APPEALS

Appeals received are documented and communicated to the Complaint and Appeal Committee.

Complaint and Appeal Committee shall ensure that personnel, who participate in the process of reviewing and handling appeals, do not have any relation to appellant and did not participate in the audit process.

Appeals shall be analyzed by at least two persons who did not participate in the audit or decision-making process related to the certification, who do not have any conflicts of interest related to CH, and one shall have a level of lead auditor for the specific certification scope.

Upon receipt, Complaint and Appeal Committee is responsible to consider, check the content, analyze, investigate and inform appellant.

Appeals shall not be solved by changing the certification scope to remove a problem in the scope of the certification granted.

If results of handling appeals are disagreeable, Appellant or VCC&C shall ask Technical Advisory Board to jointly review the claim.

The Technical Advisory Board shall review evidences and its members’ comments, Chairman of the Technical Advisory Board completes investigation, identifies appropriate actions and make decisions.

– If VCC&C‘s decision is accurate, Chairman of Technical Advisory Board shall advise in writing to individual / organization, who has appeals, and VCC&C of the correctness of decision granted.

– If VCC&C‘s decision is inaccurate, Chairman of Technical Advisory Board shall advise in writing to individuals / organizations, who has appeals, of actions proposed by VCC&C, accepted by Technical Advisory Board.

The Chairman of Technical Advisory Board shall reply in writing to individuals / organizations about results of monitoring the implementation of VCC&C’s corrective actions.

VCC&C shall resolve and communicate the result of any appeal within 30 calendar days. VCC&C shall record the appeal date and, eventually its results in MultiTrace and update the status as an appeal process.

All appeals and their solutions shall be reported in annual meeting of VCC&C and Technical Advisory Board.

For raising any complaint and appeal, please submit your details by either means as folllows: