Assurance 2024

Assurance

Regular verification through independent third parties

Verification of whether the standard’s requirements are being met consists of several steps. Every year, participating cotton companies are obliged to submit a self-assessment, which includes information about cotton-related business operations of the previous season as well as a self-evaluation of their compliance with the applicable criteria and indicators. This provides the Aid by Trade Foundation with a basis for external verification by commissioned independent assurance providers and for the monitoring of data-related impact indicators. Both the self-assessment process and the subsequent independent review by third parties are conducted annually. The verification process alternates its focus every year between the cotton fields and the ginneries. The CmiA certificate for a cotton company is valid for two years. In the first year, the verification takes place at the ginnery level; in the second year, it is conducted at the field level during the cultivation period. Once both have been successfully completed, a new two-year certificate is issued, and the audit cycle starts over. Cotton made in Africa® requires these verifications to be conducted exclusively by independent and qualified third parties.The Aid by Trade Foundation helps cotton companies achieve the stated sustainability goals. Based on the audit findings, each cotton company creates a continuous-improvement plan and establishes concrete goals to be achieved by the next verification.

Non-Compliance: Revocation of the Cotton made in Africa® Certificate

Should a Cotton made in Africa® verification detect systemic non-compliance with core indicators, the relevant cotton company’s certificate will be revoked. This means that the cotton company is no longer permitted to trade in any CmiA-certified cotton.

Transparency and Continuous Improvement: AbTF Publishes Independent Verification Results for Cotton made in Africa®’s Standards The Aid by Trade Foundation (AbTF) is releasing the latest edition of its annual, aggregated report on the verification and implementation of Cotton made in Africa® (CmiA). This report demonstrates AbTF’s continued commitment to transparency in 2023 and offers the public insight into how its partners in Africa are implementing the requirements of the CmiA and CmiA Organic standards. The published figures pertain to the production of CmiA and CmiA Organic cotton during the last season. They show results ranging from good to very good for all four of CmiA’s sustainability pillars: management, people, planet, and prosperity.

Verification Activities Overview 2024

10 Production countries 22 Cotton companies 24 Verifiers 24 11 Verification missions in the southern hemisphere & 13 in the northern hemispehere 10 Ginnery level verifications 14 Field level verifications Verification missions for 3 CmiA candidates & 1 witness audit in Tanzania 2 Verification companies: ECOCERT, Burkina Faso & AFRICERT, Kenya Download report

Downloads

Welcome to the downloads area! This area contains extensive documents regarding the CmiA Assurance System (standard monitoring system), which supports monitoring and certification for Cotton made in Africa®.

Verification Documents

Aggregated Verification & Implementation Report 2024

Aggregated Verification & Implementation Report 2023

Assurance Manual V1.1

Assurance Providers AbTF Fibre Standards

CmiA Appeals Procedure

CmiA Appeals Submission Form

CmiA Appeals Committee Guidelines

Manuel d’assurance qualité V1.1

Formulaire de soumission dappels de CmiA

Directives du comite dappel de CmiA

Procedure dappel de CmiA

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