After becoming a member Beraca will undergo a five year period of audits and must submit annual reports on the company’s progress towards full compliance to the standards established by the association.
“The status of UEBT member is an important recognition and one more step on Beraca’s primary goal: developing the sustainable use and supply of ingredients from the Brazilian biodiversity following environmental, social, and economic criteria,” said Filipe Sabará, business director at Beraca.
The announcement certifies the Brazilian company as a practitioner of ethical trade to its current partners, whilst at the same time as it approaches potential clients that share the same philosophy.
Suppliers need to be transparent
Speaking to CosmeticsDesign.com USA last month, Sabará explained how Beraca was happy to be completely transparent to its customers and government officials.
He explained how regular audits are taken and clients kept informed, even stating that customers could visit the sites in the Amazon for themselves; at the time of speaking mid-November, Sabará had just returned from one such visit.
He also explained the need for independent third party audit and verification, which Beraca has successfully completed against the UEBT standard in order to be certified, as all organizations must within 6 months, after being granted Approved Candidate status.
UEBT requires conservation commitments
Members of UEBT commit to gradually ensuring that their sourcing practices promote the conservation of biodiversity, respect traditional knowledge, and assure the fair and equitable sharing of benefits all along the supply chain.
According to research conducted by UEBT, a non-profit association that promotes the fair trade of ingredients from native biodiversity, in Europe and the US, 50 percent of consumers believe cosmetic companies should prove that their acquisition of natural ingredients is carried out in an ethical manner.
In the same research, it found that more than 85 percent would like to know more about the supplying practices used at the cosmetic sector.