THE STANDARD

The Equalitas-Sustainable Wine standard addresses and satisfies certain issues and concerns in the wine growing sector that can no longer be ignored: first and foremost, the introduction of a shared and objective process capable of being certified by an independent authority.

The standard has been designed to be applied to the wine industry supply chain and, therefore, is logically an integral part of its production process, providing for its adoption and certification by all types of stakeholders, whether they be grape producers, wine processors or bottling companies, and including wine protection associations. The standard, in fact, envisages the certification of three industry levels: the producer (Organisation standard), the finished product (Product standard) and the Terroir (Terroir standard).

The distinctive traits of the standard are its strong points for encouraging the sustainable development of the supply chain:

– it has a broad technical base: combining good practices and integrated economic, environmental and social indicators, each one developed on the basis of the most advanced experience available;

– it is based on a Management System: businesses are therefore encouraged to integrate sustainability in their corporate management practices, focusing first and foremost on self-assessment;

– its annual objective is preparing a Sustainability Report setting out the improvement policies, which are a key feature of the approach to sustainability;

– it requires certification by an independent body: this guarantees consumers greater transparency in the management of objectives of sustainability, but also encourages businesses to show constant commitment and efficiency;

– it introduces a collective brand for communicating with the final customer and the market as a whole.

Q&A Equalitas

Q&A Equalitas is a periodically updated document containing interpretations or amendments to the SOPD Equalitas Standard and the Implementing Regulation. It is a normative document, therefore formally part of the Standard or of the Implementing Regulation, which is updated following reports from Certification Bodies or other stakeholders, or on the basis of reviews by the Technical-Scientific-Ethical Committee or by the Board of Directors of Equalitas. All the updates introduced with Q&A Equalitas constitute official additions and revisions of the Standard and of the Implementing Regulation and will form an integral part thereof when they are subjected to a formal revision.
The implementation of the new and/or updated rules comes into force two months after each new publication of the Q&A Equalitas unless specific indications are provided (for example “from the date of publication”).

Mere interpretations must instead be considered applicable immediately.

To receive the full document and Application Regulation
email us at support@equalitas.it