August 28, 2025
From 1° August 2025, after one year of its publication and coexistence with revision 4 of the SOPD Equalitas Standard, revision 5 becomes the only applicable one.
The drafting of the fifth version of the Standard Equalitas follows a broad consultation, conducted with the aim of understanding the needs of stakeholders and the evolution of the concept of sustainability on the international scene.
The revision work was guided by the Technical-Scientific-Ethical Committee involving representatives of the academia, the world of production, consumers, trade associations and regulatory bodies.
The new edition of the Standard introduces several new features, with particular attention to:
  • Simplify the certification process for farms participating in territorial projects (DfS);
  • strengthen inter-chapter coherence between Chapters 6 (SP) and 7 (DfS);
  • give greater characterisation of the indicators with respect to the wine sector;
  • keep the Standard in line with key international voluntary regulatory references, including auditing protocols;
  • include cutting-edge topics, not yet present in most voluntary international regulatory references.
Until 31 July 2025, the Organizations were able to choose between revision 4 and revision 5, but with an important clarification: certificates issued in Rev. 4 cannot expire after 31 July 2026, even if the ordinary validity of the certificates is three years.
Equalitas undertakes to issue a revision of the Standard at least every 3 years. Having said this, it is noted that this revision is the fifth in the eight years of life of the Standard. This demonstrates the frenetic evolution of the concept of sustainability and the focus of Equalitas in wanting to keep the Standard at the forefront.
To receive a copy of the Standard send an email to: support@equalitas.it