Statement on certification integrity measures following an incidence of fraud in Türkiye
Soil Association Certification Ltd (SA Cert) has identified instances of fraud following an investigation into one of our subcontracted auditing partners in Türkiye. We have taken immediate action to ensure the integrity of the system, including terminating our relationship with the agent, and strengthening our oversight procedures.
We have been working closely with our assurance body, Assurance Services International (ASI), to undertake enhanced integrity checks on all affected clients. As part of this process, we agreed with ASI that we will not take on any new Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) clients in Türkiye while the integrity review is underway, and we have suspended operations in the country.
Soil Association Certification Chief Executive Dominic Robinson says, “Soil Association Certification have a 30-year history of upholding trust and integrity in certification, and we will not tolerate any fraud or misconduct in our operation. While significant, the incidents of fraud were limited and have been immediately dealt with.
“As an experienced and trusted certification body, we remain constantly vigilant to attempts to defraud the FSC system. We have invested significantly in new tools and systems to add additional levels of security to our processes. I am confident that through this work we are future proofing the integrity of our business.”
SA Cert Certificate Holders in Türkiye have been informed about the steps being taken and what this means for them. Certification activities in all other countries remain unaffected.
Once both SA Cert and ASI are satisfied that robust oversight and monitoring mechanisms are fully in place, we will resume accepting new clients in Türkiye.
If you have further questions, please contact us at forestry@soilassociation.org.