Change of scheme by economic operators
Article 7
1. Voluntary schemes shall require economic operators to disclose the following information in their applications for certification: (a) whether they or their legal predecessor are currently participating in another voluntary scheme or have participated in another voluntary scheme in the last 5 years; (b) all relevant information, including the mass balance data and the auditing reports and, where applicable, any decisions to suspend or withdraw their certificates in the last 5 years; (c) whether they withdrew from a scheme before the first surveillance audit. 2. Voluntary schemes shall exclude from the scheme economic operators in the following cases: (a) they do not disclose the information in paragraph 1, point (a) and point (b); (b) they or their legal predecessor failed the initial audit under another scheme, unless such initial audit took place more than 3 years before the application or if in the meantime the other scheme ceased its certification activities, which prevented the economic operator for reapplying. Where a voluntary scheme accepts the justification of the economic operators and decides to assess their application, the scope of the initial audit shall be adjusted to cover all relevant issues and specifically focus on the shortcomings identified in the initial audit that they failed in the other scheme; (c) they or their legal predecessor withdrew from another scheme before the first surveillance audit took place, unless the operator can prove that it had a valid reason for doing so. Where a voluntary scheme accepts the justification provided by the economic operator, the scope of the initial audit shall be adjusted to cover all relevant issues of the surveillance audit.