4C Response to the COVID-19 Challenges

The outbreak of COVID-19, widely known as Coronavirus, is currently challenging global health systems and the economy. 4C recognizes its responsibility to act and seek solutions related to the health and safety of all the actors involved in its mission.

Our headquarters in Cologne continues with its activities, working under increased health precautions, and all the necessary measures were taken for employees to work remotely, in case there might be a complete lock-down. All business travels were stopped till further notice.

We also developed temporary solutions for 4C certification audits. For initial certification applications, there is a possibility to postpone audits to the second semester, if harvesting takes place before 30 June 2020. This decision was taken based on the forecast that the current COVID-19 restrictions will no longer be required from 1 July 2020. In addition to that, 4C re-certification audits may occur on a desk basis, if the certification body in question can evaluate compliance with 4C sustainability requirements remotely and commits to conducting an on-site audit once the situation normalizes. This exception is valid until further notice from 4C.

Another area of concern is the international and regional events, 4C organizes to promote sustainability in the coffee sector. To avoid any health risks, we postponed our Global Sustainability Conference in Warsaw to the 14th of October. For the same reason, we will hold the next 4C Training and Regional Stakeholder Meeting in Vietnam on 23-25 June 2020 online. If there are any further changes to our trainings and regional stakeholder events, we will issue additional statements accordingly.

4C will further monitor the development of the COVID-19 outbreak. For the time being, we wish you all good health. We are all in this together and need to take care of each other. We would like to thank all the health workers who are currently on the forefront and saving the world every day.