RSPO tells SDP to carry out action plan

KUALA LUMPUR: The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) has required Sime Darby Plantation Bhd (SDP) to complete an action plan over the next six months to address the weaknesses identified in its existing systems and processes.

The sustainable palm oil organisation said its secretariat instructed SDP to do this on Nov 14 following the completion of its independent verification assessment of the plantation’s Malaysian operations.

RSPO had undertaken the assessment following the United States Customs and Border Protection’s withhold release order on all palm oil and products containing palm oil produced by SDP on Dec 30, 2020.

It said the assessment team identified violations of RSPO Standards, including the payment of unreported recruitment fees to agents, sub-agents or other third parties, and the retention of passports.

“Additionally, the assessment team identified a number of areas where further strengthening of SDP’S systems and processes are required,” it said in a statement published on its website, as reported by Bernama.

RSPO noted that SDP had taken actions to address the issues reported although the final results remained to be seen.

“The Compliance Subdivision of the RSPO secretariat would be monitoring the implementation of the activities (the action plan) for six months, from December 2022 to May 2023,” it added.

In response to RSPO’S findings, SDP said it had taken many measures to ensure the safety, well-being and rights of its workers were recognised by RSPO.

“These measures are part and parcel of the continuous improvement programme we have in place, which is today an essential and entrenched part of our operations,” it said in a statement recently.