Trustea Code Verification Certification

trustea is an Indian sustainability code and verification system for the tea sector that endeavours bringing sustainability to environment, welfare to communities, quality and health safety to consumers. Verification under the code provides consumers with the assurance of responsible production and provides producers the opportunity to credibly demonstrate this to their customers. Tea plantation companies, the bought leaf factories (BLF), or the independent producer groups together with the factory can be certified under the trustea Code.

What is trustea verification?

trustea is an Indian sustainability code and verification system for the tea sector. The code enables producers, buyers and others involved in Indian tea businesses to obtain tea that has been produced according to agreed, credible, transparent and measurable criteria. trustea is working with smallholder tea growers, bought leaf factories, estates and packers to address some of the key challenges in the industry including working conditions, health & safety of tea workers, water pollution, food safety, soil erosion & contamination, gender issues and adverse effects of climate change. The trustea program seeks to promote and facilitate through sustainable management practices by implementing the trustea code and allowing the credibility to verify through a third-party certification process from the accredited Certification Bodies. The Certification validates that the tea is being produced in a sustainable manner under the three pillars of trustea – Environment, Safety and Livelihoods.

Why to opt for trustea certification?

• Ensuring buyers with sustainable and ethical tea trough the verification system and claims.
• Reduce harmful impact of production to people and the environment through GAP and GMP.
• Improved & transparent working conditions, ensuring health and safety and respecting workers’ rights.
• Regenerative practices towards resilience and rejuvenation of age-old tea production.
• Compliance with the Code will improve competitiveness for tea producers & manufacturers.
• Compliance with national regulations and endeavour potential benchmarking with international sustainability standards.

How to get trustea verification?

GCL International Ltd provides a Verification Certificate (VC) against the trustea Code across India. Clients and customers willing to undergo certification can apply from the GCL website (https://www.gcl.uk/certification/) upon which the application will be send to the client. We will use the application details to produce a quotation. Once the quotation has been accepted, we will ask you to return a signed copy of the quotation and our Scheme Rules. Along with that client/ entity needs to select GCL International as certification body and send an audit request through TCMS portal.

The Certification Process:

Under the trustea scheme, verified organisations are audited once a year. trustea verification is assessed through internal audits, external audits and system assurance audits.  External audits conducted by accredited CB’ in alternate years (Years 1, 3, 5, etc). Internal audits are self-assessment audit conducted by the verified unit itself in alternate years (years 2, 4, 6, etc). System Assurance Audit conducted by CB’s and trustea secretariat also termed as unannounced audit. A Verification Certificate is authorised to be issued only the certification body upon successful completion of external audit every time.

Request a Certification

To request an audit, or for more information on the certification process, please don’t hesitate to contact us at trustea@gcl-intl.com  visit us at https://gcl-intl.co.in