ISCC News 13.05.2016

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
We herewith inform you about the following clarifications and updates in the ISCC system:

1) Clarification: Credit Transfer under ISCC EU
Due to recent inquiries by ISCC System Users, we point out again the requirements for credit transfer under ISCC EU (please also see ISCC System Update as of 20 August 2013).

According to ISCC requirements, a mass balance must be product specific. The transfer of sustainability credits is only allowed for identical products or product groups. Product groups are groups of products that have similar physical and chemical characteristics, for which the declaration of the products is based on a common denominator, and that have identical conversion factors.

It is not possible to transfer credits from products that were certified according to the ISCC EU waste and residue certification process to products that were certified according to the regular ISCC certification process. It is also not possible to transfer credits if the respective products have different conversion factors. This particularly applies, if additional processing steps are required.

Example 1: It is not possible to transfer credits from free fatty acids (FFAs) certified under the ISCC waste and residue process to refined vegetable oil certified under the regular ISCC certification process.

Example 2: It is not possible to transfer credits from FFAs to refined vegetable oil (both certified under the regular ISCC certification process), if the FFAs have different physical/chemical characteristics than the refined vegetable oil, and therefore require additional processing steps, e.g. re-esterification (pre-treatment of high FFA feedstock for biodiesel production).

Certification Bodies conducting ISCC audits are obliged to verify compliance with this requirement during the mass balance verification.

2) Clarification on First Gathering Points and "Local Agents"
Due to recent inquiries, we herewith point out again that First Gathering Points (FGPs) are economic operators that receive biomass from companies that grow and harvest this biomass (farms/plantations). This includes cooperatives or traders that are buying sustainable biomass from farms or plantations and selling this biomass in their own name. All FGP’s must be certified individually under ISCC.
 
FGPs can use local agents to facilitate the contracts regarding sustainable biomass between farmers and the certified FGP. If the local agents are acting on behalf (in the name) of the FGP, these local agents shall not be considered as FGP themselves and they do not require certification. If a FGP is using local agents, still a contractual agreement between the FGP and the farms and plantations is required and must be documented at the FGP. If economic operators are buying and selling the biomass in their own name they must be considered as independent FGP and cannot act as a "local agent".
 
Please also see the ISCC system update as of 31 July 2014.

3) Rounding of the Sample Size under ISCC EU and ISCC PLUS
In the case the result of calculating the sample size is a decimal number, the sample size is to be rounded up to the next whole number (integer). The decisive factor for rounding up is the first position after the decimal point. This means, calculated sample sizes up to 1.04 will result in a sample size of 1. A calculated sample size of 1.05 or higher would lead to a sample size of 2 (1.05 must be rounded up to 1.1 which must be rounded up to 2).

4) Update of ISCC EU List of Materials
ISCC has updated the list of materials eligible for certification under ISCC EU.

The following product categories have been added to table 1 (raw materials): Forestry residues, forestry processing residues, short rotation coppice, waste wood.

The following materials have been added to table 2 (intermediate and final products): TAEE (tertiary-amyl-ethyl-ether produced on the basis of bioethanol), TAME (tertiary-amyl-methyl-ether produced on the basis of biomethanol).

Please find the updated list attached and in the client section of the ISCC website.

An archive of all ISCC System Updates is available in the client section of the ISCC website.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Kind regards,

Your ISCC Team