CHAIN OF CUSTODY: GROUP STANDARD

The MSC Chain of Custody Standard has three versions that cover the full supply chain from the certified fishery or farm to the final sale. The MSC Chain of Custody Group Standard requires that the organisation (or group of organisations) designates a central office that establishes internal controls and is responsible for ensuring that each site complies with the CoC Standard. The Conformity Assessment Body audits the central office and a sample of sites, rather than auditing every site. A single CoC code and certificate are shared across the group.

The MSC Chain of Custody Group Standard can be more efficient for organisations with many sites rather than multi-site certification. It can also apply to groups of individual organisations that join together to achieve CoC certification.

A Chain of Custody audit will determine whether the operation can demonstrate conformity with the Group Standard’s six core principles:

PRINCIPLE 1: Certified products are purchased from certified suppliers
PRINCIPLE 2: Certified products are identifiable
PRINCIPLE 3: Certified products are segregated
PRINCIPLE 4: Certified products are traceable and volumes are recorded
PRINCIPLE 5: The organisation’s management system addresses the requirements of this Standard
PRINCIPLE 6: Additional requirements for Group CoC

For an MSC Group process, It is required that all sites within a chain of custody group conduct an internal audit before progressing to an external audit.

Once the group is ready for audit by a Conformity Assessment Body, and following the formalisation of contracts, audit dates are booked for the required number of sites and the central office. An audit plan will be sent. Presuming there are no non-conformities to address, there is a 30-day window to make a final certification decision and 10 days following to issue the certificate. Details around timeframes and requirements in the event of non-conformities are in Section 9 of the MSC CoC Certification Requirements.

A Chain of Custody Group certificate is valid for three years. Following successful certification, certified organisations are required to undertake annual surveillance audits to demonstrate continued compliance with the CoC Default Standard.

Group Chain of Custody arrangements are often complex, please feel free to contact us so we can assist with scoping.

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