trustea is a sustainability program for the tea sector anchored on the three pillars of environment, safety and livelihoods. The program enables producers, buyers and others involved in the tea supply chain to obtain tea that has been produced sustainably according to agreed, credible, transparent and measurable criteria.
trustea is working with smallholder tea growers, bought leaf factories, estates and packers to address issues such as working conditions, health and safety of tea workers, water pollution, food safety, soil erosion and contamination, gender issues, sustenance of biodiversity and adverse effects of climate change.
Find out more about trustea at - https://trustea.org/
ISEAL Code Compliant organisations have successfully adhered to our previous Codes of Good Practice (Standard-Setting, Impacts and Assurance) and have committed to aligning their systems to the ISEAL Code. Independent evaluations against the ISEAL Code commenced in October 2025, and organisations must demonstrate full adherence to the ISEAL Code by October 2029 to maintain their ISEAL Code Compliant status.
Please note, all ISEAL Code Compliant members are also ISEAL Community Members.
The ISEAL Code came into effect on 1 March 2024. Organisations that had adhered to the previous Codes of Good Practice were granted an 18-month transition period to align their system(s) with the ISEAL Code. For further information, visit: What is ISEAL Code Compliant.
From October 2025, independent evaluations against the ISEAL Code will commence in accordance with the Independent Evaluation Procedure. ISEAL Code Compliant organisations are required to successfully close an evaluation across the full scope of the ISEAL Code. This can be done through a single, full-scope evaluation or through phased specific-scope evaluations. Evaluations must be completed within four years of the end of the transition period, no later than October 2029, to maintain ISEAL Code Compliant status.
Details on the evaluation schedule will be made publicly available.
As a result of this independent evaluation, trustea has made the following improvements to how they set their standards:
- Updated their Standards Development and Revision procedure.
- Made improvements to the transparency and accessibility of their public consultation process.
- Increased efforts to reach out to other standard systems operating in the same space as themselves.
- Implemented record-keeping procedures after completing their standard revision.
As a result of this independent evaluation, trustea made the following improvements to their assurance system:
- Provided additional transparency on the competence of assessors used for oversight purposes.
- Improved the independence of their appeals process.
- Put in place measures to mitigate misrepresentation or corruption in the case of the suspension of certificate holders.
- Defined procedures that improve the transparency of CB and internal staff competency whilst making sure measures are in place for ongoing professional development.
As a result of this independent evaluation, trustea made the following improvements to their M&E system:
- Improved the identification of unintended effects and made these more transparent for their stakeholders.
- Improved the reporting of performance monitoring, as well as the outcomes and impact evaluations within their M&E system.
- Updated their Logical Framework Analysis (LFA) to aid the transparency of their intended impact and outcomes.
- Published their first M&E report in line with the requirements of the ISEAL Impacts Code.