Governance structure of the voluntary scheme
Article 3
1. Voluntary schemes shall establish a governance structure to ensure that the scheme has the necessary legal and technical capacity, impartiality and independence to perform its duties. Depending on the scope of the voluntary scheme, it shall set up a technical committee or an equivalent system of technical expert support, which in specific cases shall also allow the engagement of independent external experts to provide advice on technical issues. 2. Voluntary schemes shall include to the extent possible in the governance structure and decision-making a broad range of representatives from various relevant stakeholder groups such as farmers’ or foresters’ associations, environmental non-governmental organisations, indigenous and local communities potentially affected by the scheme, academia, and fuel producers. No individual stakeholder or stakeholder group shall have a dominant position in the decision-making process. Decisions shall only be taken where a quorum of the majority of stakeholders is reached. 3. Voluntary schemes shall set up rules and procedures to avoid conflicts of interest in decision-making. As a minimum standard, they shall enforce a system of checks and balances to ensure that no individual stakeholder, having a vested interest in the outcome of a decision, can have decisive influence on that particular decision. 4. Certification bodies shall set up integrity rules and procedures to ensure their full independence from the economic operators participating in the scheme. Voluntary schemes shall require that the certification bodies operating on behalf of the scheme are accredited to International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) standard 17065. 5. The governance system of the certification body shall aim at ensuring the highest possible level of independence of the auditors’ judgement by applying principles of auditors’ rotation or other existing best practices in the area. 6. Persons having a potential conflict of interest shall be excluded from decision-making in both the voluntary scheme and the certification body. Voluntary schemes shall put in place appropriate procedures and an audit trail to identify and document such cases, and shall regularly review them as part of their internal monitoring systems.