19 March 2008

The VCS Association recognises the importance of the trust, consistency and quality assurance that accredited validation and verification bodies provide to the uptake and operation of the VCS 2007. The Association also recognises the constraints generated by the current limited availability of VCS accredited validators and verifiers particularly in North America.

In order to facilitate a timely uptake of emissions reduction projects and at the same time safeguarding the integrity of the VCS Program, the VCS Association will temporarily approve validation and verification bodies for a period of 12 months if they demonstrate to the VCS Board that they:

1. are approved under and have experience in validating and verification emission reduction or removal projects against an existing GHG Program standard;
2. are able to demonstrate their independence, impartiality and freedom from conflict of interest as defined in ISO 14065;
3. provide an official letter from an accreditation body who is a member of the International Accreditation Forum (IAF), confirming that they have formally applied for an ISO 14065 accreditation with the scope VCS;
4. provide a copy of the documentation provided to the national accreditation body when applying for ISO 14065 accreditation that demonstrates competency in the project scopes being applied for. If the validation or verification body is applying for a scope not covered by the accreditation body, provide information demonstrating competency in the project scope based on normal information requirements when applying for a scope accreditation;
5. provide a copy of their liability insurance; and
6. have signed the VCS validation and verification agreement & paid respective applicable registration fee.

Accreditation will only be provided for the project scopes that the validator and verifier demonstrate compliance in. The list of VCS sectoral scopes is at Attachment A.

Applications for this temporary accreditation should be sent to the VCS Secretariat for the attention of the VCS Board. Each applicant must provide a non-refundable application fee of €5,000.

Validators and Verifiers approved as through an existing approved GHG Program (e.g. Clean Development Mechanism) can apply for a temporary scope extension for scopes they have not yet been accredited under in the approved GHG Program. Applicants shall pay a non-refundable application fee of €2,000 for each request for scope extension and provide supportive evidence of its competence for the scope(s).

The assessment of each validator and/or verifier will be completed by the Secretariat or an independent consultant commissioned on behalf of the Secretariat. This will include a desk-top assessment of the 6 criteria above.

The 12 month temporary accreditation will start after the formal approval of the application by the VCS Board.

If an applicant does not receive accreditation against ISO 14065 within 12 months of their temporary approval by the VCS Association, they will no longer be able to act as a VCS validator or verifier (unless it can be demonstrated that the delay is result of internal operational procedures of the respective Accreditation Body). Following their failure to meet their obligations the VCS Board will commission a second validation and/or verification, at the temporary validator/verifier’s expense, of validated projects and issued VCUs whilst the VCS validator/verifier operated as temporarily accredited entity. The second validation and/or verification will be based on a sample of all projects validated and/or verified by the Validator/Verifier based on the sampling requirements set out under IAF Guide to ISO/IEC Guide 66:1999. This shall as a minimum include a sample of validations and verifications equal to the square root of the total number of validations and verifications that they carried out.

Where the validator is found responsible for incorrectly approving a VCS project, the validator shall be liable for any over-issuance of VCUs that occurs over the 10 year project crediting period. The VCS Secretariat shall commission a verifier (at the temporary validators expense) to quantify the amount of any over-issuance at the end of the ten year crediting period.

Where a verifier is found responsible for over issuance of VCUs, they will be required to make up the relevant VCUs based on the requirements set out in the validation and verification agreement signed with the VCS Association.

Attachment 1: Sectoral Scopes

1. Energy industries (renewable - / non-renewable sources)
2. Energy distribution
3. Energy demand
4. Manufacturing industries
5. Chemical industry
6. Construction
7. Transport
8. Mining/Mineral production
9. Metal production
10. Fugitive emissions from fuels (solid, oil and gas)
11. Fugitive emissions from production and consumption of halocarbons and sulphur hexafluoride
12. Solvents use
13. Waste handling and disposal
14. Forestry & Land Management
15. Agriculture