Certification Process

To better understand how LIFE Certification process works, it is important to know how the system is structured and the methodology used.

1. The System

LIFE Certification is based on a system with three main levels: LIFE Institute, the Auditing Agency and the Company interested in getting certified. LIFE Certification is valid for 5 years, with required ongoing re-evaluations with annual statements and audits.

 

2. The methodology

In the first phase, the Auditing Agency, accredited by LIFE Institute, ensures that the candidate Company is in compliance with the legislation pertinent to its operations.

 

In the next phase, the Auditing Agency analyzes the candidate company’s operations based on the established criteria to verify procedures and identify environmental impacts and their management aiming a continuous improvement of the company’s processes. At this stage the Audit also looks at whether the company has other environmental certifications.

In the third and last phase, LIFE Certification focuses on a set of guidelines for implementing actions for the exclusive purpose of contributing to biodiversity conservation. This stage offers the candidate Company options as it responds to the following question: “As an independent enterprise of your size and from your business sector, what can your company do to promote biodiversity conservation to expand on and implement more effective environmentally friendly business practices that will also guarantee the survival of your production systems or services?”