Pre-Assessment Reporting Template and Guidance for Users (v2)

Introduction

Fisheries wishing to gain certification against the MSC fisheries standard are encouraged by MSC to undergo a ‘Pre-Assessment’ in which qualified conformity assessment bodies (CABs) evaluate, at a provisional level, a fishery’s performance against the MSC fisheries standard. This allows any potential issues in a fishery’s performance to be identified, and enables potential fishery clients to prepare accordingly for a full assessment.

The first draft of this template was circulated for consultation with CABs in 2010. Feedback from this consultation and subsequent certifier workshops was that the proposed evaluation tables were far too detailed for CABs to produce at the Pre-Assessment level. A number of options were developed and discussed with CABs at a web-conference in March 2011.

Objectives

MSC aims to standardise the way that Pre-Assessment reports are drafted. The template should assist users in applying the MSC scoring requirements at the pre-assessment stage, and improve the consistency of application by different users. This will also allow the information contained in these reports to be more easily collated and analysed.

Results of the consultation

Comments were received by a range of stakeholders. Particular concerns relate to the idea of MSC providing a template for the Pre-Assessment report. MSC provides specific responses via email to consultees on comments received.

As the standard owner, the MSC aims to improve the consistency of Pre-Assessment reports by providing a template. This will improve conformity with MSC requirements.

The feedback received was provided to the MSC's Technical Advisory Board (TAB) for information and considered in producing the final version of the new requirements, now available for download here. CABs will soon be required to use the MSC Pre-Assessment Reporting Template to submit their Pre Assessment reports. The new templates can be downloaded here and will become effective on November 14th, 2011.

Next steps

Certifiers will begin using the MSC Pre-Assessment Reporting Template as of November 14th, 2011.

Further information

Please direct any inquiries to:
Suzi Hawkins
Fisheries Assessment Manager
Suzi.hawkins@msc.org