Principle(d) actors

The Preamble of the ‘RSPO Principles and Criteria’ does not explicitly mention who is to meet the principles and criteria. The production of palm oil can be defined in a narrow way to refer to palm oil growers but also to include millers, who produce palm oil out of fresh fruit bunches harvested from the oil palm trees.

However, the naming of principles 4 and 6 clearly suggests that these principles concern both growers and millers. The specification of principles 1, 3, 5 and 8 into criteria and indicators reveals that these principles relate to both growers and millers. Principles 2 and 7 seem to concern growers only, also when reading the criteria and indicators.

The ‘RSPO Principles and Criteria’ are not specifically geared towards smallholders.

The Preamble mentions that, ‘The development of more detailed guidance for application of the principles and criteria by smallholders … is still on-going’.

The principles and criteria are basically meant for plantations, defined by ILO (Convention 110, article 1/1) as: an agricultural undertaking regularly employing hired workers… concerned with the cultivation or production of … [inter alia] palm oil….’, but commonly understood as large-scale production. Principles 5, 6 and 7 explicitly refer to ‘plantations’, ‘plantation area’ and/or ‘plantation development’.

Whereas the producers of palm oil are the ones to adopt the principles and criteria and to get certified (see below), they have not played a leading role in the establishment of the RSPO, the membership, the standard setting process and the national interpretations of the global RSPO principles and guidelines.

The RSPO was an initiative of the WWF and Unilever. In 2002 they started to explore possibilities for establishing a business partnership model for sustainable palm oil.

In 2004 the RSPO was registered as a foundation under Swiss law, starting with 10 members. In November 2008, membership consisted of 261 members. Membership had grown to 380 members in October 2010. Whereas the RSPO distinguishes seven categories of members, they can be regrouped into three main categories (Table 7.3):

Private law making at the round table on sustainable palm oil

value chain actors (palm oil processors, traders, consumer goods manufacturers, retailers, banks and investors), oil palm growers and civil society organisations (environmental and nature conservation organisations, social and development organisations). As per October 2010, membership consisted of 276 value chain actors, 84 oil palm growers and 20 civil society organisations (Table 7.3).

Whereas palm oil is mainly produced in Indonesia and Malaysia, the membership of the RSPO is not limited to business or civil society organisations from these two countries. The RSPO is a truly international organisation, with membership coming from 42 countries all over the world. Malaysia (87) and Indonesia (75) do provide the largest number of members but companies and NGOs from the United Kingdom (66), the Netherlands (37), Germany (31) and United States (26) cannot be easily overlooked.²⁹²

The highest authority of the RSPO is the annual General Assembly of members.

This assembly has the power to establish the principle guidelines for the general policy of the RSPO. The decisions are taken by a simple majority vote of the members present or represented. Oil palm growers represent a minority of the membership. Palm oil processors, traders and consumer goods manufacturers together form a majority of the membership. The General Assembly also has the power to elect the members of the Executive Board within their own sector and

292 See: http://www.rspo.org (as per January 2011).

Table 7.3. Membership of the RSPO as per October 2010.

Type of member Number Percentage of

membership

A. Value chain actors 276 72.6

Palm oil processors and traders 151 39.7

Consumer goods manufacturers 94 24.7

Retailers 23 6.1

Banks and investors 8 2.1

B. Oil palm growers 84 22.1

C. Civil society organizations 20 5.3

Environmental and nature conservation organizations 11 2.9 Social and development organizations (NGOs) 9 2.4

Total 380 100

Source:www.rspo.org as per October 19th of 2010.

to make recommendations to the Executive Board in view of the establishment of any useful Committee or Working Group (as specified in the RSPO by-laws).²⁹³ In 2005 the General Assembly adopted a set of general principles and criteria for sustainable production of palm to be field tested for two years. The document was prepared by the RSPO Criteria Working Group (CWG), which has played a key role in the standard setting process. The working group consisted of nine representatives of producers, six supply chain and investors, three environmental organisations and three social organisations. Major Indonesian palm oil companies, however, were not represented. The category of producers included two semi-public bodies and two research institutes. Eight members of the RSPO, including four members of the Executive Board of the RSPO, were appointed as observers of the CWG. The consultative process of discussing draft principles and criteria was facilitated by ProForest, an environmental NGO.²⁹⁴ After field-testing and further consultations, the ‘Principles and Criteria for Sustainable Production of Sustainable Palm Oil’ were adopted by the General Assembly in 2007.

After the adoption of the global and generic principles and criteria, ‘national implementation and interpretation teams’ were organised in seven palm oil producing countries. The national implementation and interpretation teams do not only consist of non-state actors but also of state actors: about one fifth to one third of the membership of these teams consists of representatives of ministries. The membership includes public or semi-public bodies that are supposed to articulate interests of the plantation sector, like the Indonesian Palm Oil Commission (IPOC) and the Malaysian Palm Oil Association (MPOA). Representatives from industry form between one and two thirds of the membership, whereas NGOs do not reach more than one fifth.

The main purpose of every national team has been to ensure that the implementation of the global principles and criteria is ‘congruent or compatible with the norms, laws and values of countries, or sovereign states’. With this test in mind, each team distinguished ‘major non-conformities’ and ‘minor non-conformities’. The first ones refer to indicators that are considered critical in a specific country; the latter ones refer to indicators that are not very appropriate or relevant in a specific country. At the same time, not all global indicators could be simply disregarded

293 Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), 2004. RSPO statues, by-laws and codes of conduct.

Available at: http://www.rspo.org/?q=page/896.

294 Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), 2004. Minutes of the first meeting of the RSPO Criteria Working Group. Compiled by ProForest and Andrew Ng. Available at: http://www.rspo.org/files/

resource_centre/CWG%201%20minutes.pdf.

Private law making at the round table on sustainable palm oil

or considered less important in the national context: ‘At least 45% all indicators must be identified as compulsory’.²⁹⁵