12 June, 2020

Voting Notice

 

Dear RTRS Members,

As it has been previously informed, after an exhaustive analysis on the COVID-19 pandemic situation, the RTRS Executive Board members decided, during their meeting held on April 2, 2020, to suspend the 14th RTRS General Assembly Meeting (the “GA14”).

Furthermore, the Executive Board members decided to (i) postpone the approval of the resolutions that were going to be dealt with at the GA14, (ii) submit the RTRS Standard for Responsible Corn Production and its ancillary technical documents for the consideration of the Participating Members by means of a written resolution in accordance with the voting procedure set forth in Article 18 of RTRS Statutes, and (iii) carry out the elections of Executive Board members nominated to fill in vacant seats for the period 2020-2022 by means of an ad-hoc written based procedure, in accordance with the requirements set forth in Article 27(9) et seq. of RTRS Statutes.

As a consequence of the above, the purpose of this Voting Notice is to provide the RTRS Members with the relevant information, instructions and documents necessary for the exercise of the voting rights in connection with the approval of the RTRS Standard for Responsible Corn Production and its ancillary technical documents and the elections of Executive Board members nominated to fill in vacant seats for the period 2020-2022.

Please be kindly reminded that Observing Members are not involved in these voting procedures, as they do not have voting rights. Only Participating Members are entitled to cast votes using the Voting Ballot Sheets attached hereto.

1) Approval of the RTRS Standard for Responsible Corn Production and its ancillary technical documents.

A) Introduction.

As corn is the typical crop used to rotate with soy in the majority of countries where RTRS is present, the RTRS Standard for Responsible Corn Production seems to be a good complement to the existent Soy Production Standard.

Bearing this in mind, RTRS has decided to support sustainable practices at farm level, addressing in this new standard potential management, social and environmental risks related to corn production.

The RTRS Standard for Responsible Corn Production is intended to be applicable for all RTRS certified soybean producers that are willing to include their corn production in their certified farms under this new scheme.

After a thorough development process that included the formation of a working group and the holding of public consultations, the RTRS Executive Board members, during their meeting held on February 12, 2020, approved the RTRS Standard for Responsible Corn Production and its ancillary technical documents, which are hereby submitted for the consideration of the Participating Members.

B) Documents.

Please find attached as Annex 1 the following documents, which are hereby proposed to be approved:

 Annex 1.a.- RTRS Standard for Responsible Corn Production V1.0
 Annex 1.b.- RTRS Accreditation and Certification procedures for responsible soy production V4.4_ENG
 Annex 1.c.- Progressive Entry Level for RTRS Standard on Responsible Corn Production V1.0_ENG
 Annex 1.d.- RTRS Chain of Custody Standard V2.3_ENG
 Annex 1.e.- RTRS Chain of Custody Accreditation and Certification Procedure for Certification Bodies V3.3_ENG
 Annex 1.f.- RTRS Group and Multi-site certification procedure for CBs_V3.2_ENG
 Annex 1.g.- RTRS Group and Multi-site Certification Standard V 3.2_ENG
 Annex 1.h.- RTRS Country Material Balance Standard for Chain of Custody Version 1.1_ENG
 Annex 1.i.- RTRS Use of the Logo & Claims Procedure V4.2 – ENG
 Annex 1.j.- Yield Estimation Methodology for RTRS Certification_ENG_V1.1

C) Voting procedure (in accordance with the requirements set forth in Article 18 of RTRS Statutes).

I. Participating Members must cast their votes using the “Voting Ballot Sheet No. 1” attached hereto. Participating Members will have 30 calendar days to exercise their voting rights starting upon the date of this Voting Notice and ending on June 27, 2020 (the “Voting Period”). The Voting Ballot Sheet No. 1 must be printed, completed, executed and delivered to the RTRS Secretariat either by postal delivery or by e-mail to [email protected] (cc [email protected]). Any Voting Ballot Sheet No. 1 which is submitted after the Voting Period will be disregarded.

II. In order for the resolution to be passed it is required that (i) a simple majority (more than half) of all 140 Participating Members at the time of the publication of this Voting Notice (without consideration of the
constituencies) cast a vote either (y) by casting a vote in favor or against the resolution or (z) by abstaining from voting, using the “Voting Ballot Sheet No. 1,” and at the same time (ii) no Participating Member cast a vote against the resolution.

III. If no simple majority of all Participating Members is achieved, the resolution will be deemed rejected.

IV. If simple majority of all Participating Members is achieved, but at least one Participating Member has cast a vote against the resolution, a re-counting of the votes on constituency level will be conducted by the RTRS
Secretariat.

V. If such re-counting of the votes reveals a simple majority (more than half of the valid votes cast) in favor of the resolution within each of the constituencies having cast a vote, the resolution will be deemed passed.

VI. If such re-counting of the votes reveals a simple majority (more than half of the valid votes cast) in favor of the resolution within any of the constituencies having cast a vote not being achieved, the resolution will be deemed rejected.

VII. In order to calculate whether the simple majority has been achieved under V and VI above, abstentions will be disregarded.

2) Elections of Executive Board members nominated to fill in vacant seats for the period 2020-2022.

A) Introduction.

Please be informed that, for the period 2020-2022, there are five (5) vacant seats on the Executive Board equivalent to three (3) vacant seats within the Civil Society Organizations constituency and two (2) vacant seats within the Industry, Trade and Finance constituency.

B) Documents.

Please find attached as Annex 2 the list of Executive Board candidates validly nominated to fill in vacant seats within the Civil Society Organizations constituency and the Industry, Trade and Finance constituency.

Please be informed that
 for the Civil Society Organizations constituency less nominations than vacant seats were received; and

 for the Industry, Trade and Finance constituency more nominations than vacant seats were received.

C) Ad-hoc written based voting procedure (in accordance with the requirements set forth in Article 27(9) et seq. of RTRS Statutes).

I. The election of the Executive Board members will be conducted by constituency.

II. Participating Members from the Civil Society Organizations constituency and the Industry, Trade and Finance constituency must cast their votes using the “Voting Ballot Sheet No. 2” attached hereto. Such Participating
Members will have 30 calendar days to exercise their voting rights starting upon the date of this Voting Notice and ending on June 27, 2020 (the “Voting Period”). The Voting Ballot Sheet No. 2 must be printed, completed, executed and delivered to the RTRS Secretariat either by postal delivery or by email to [email protected] (cc [email protected]). Any Voting Ballot Sheet No. 2 which is submitted after the Voting Period will be disregarded.

III. The election of each Executive Board member will require (i) that the simple majority (more than half) of the Participating Members of the relevant constituency at the time of the publication of this Voting Notice
cast a vote either (y) by casting a vote in favor or against the election or (z) by abstaining from voting, using the “Voting Ballot Sheet No. 2,” and (ii) the approval by simple majority (more than half of the valid votes cast)
within the respective constituency. In order to calculate whether the simple majority has been achieved under (ii) above, abstentions will be disregarded.

IV. In the case of the Industry, Trade and Finance constituency where more nominations than vacant seats were received, each Participating Member shall be entitled to vote in favor or against each of the candidates of its constituency. If the requirements described in III.(i) and III.(ii) above are satisfied in connection with more candidates than vacant seats, the candidate(s) with the highest percentage of favorable votes shall be elected.

In case of tied votes, the election shall be determined by drawing of lots.

V. In the case of the Civil Society Organizations constituency where less nominations than vacant seats were received, or if the satisfaction of the requirements described in III.(i) and III.(ii) above cannot be achieved for
the election of a number of Executive Board members equivalent to the number of vacant seats either within the Civil Society Organizations constituency or the Industry, Trade and Finance constituency, the seats not filled shall remain vacant and the members of the Executive Board representing such constituency may nominate an interim member to fill the vacant positions until the next General Assembly Meeting as provided for
in Article 20(9) of RTRS Statutes.

The results of both voting procedures will be announced to the RTRS Members by email and they will also be published on the RTRS Website, at the latest on July 12, 2020.

We remain available for any further clarifications in connection with this Voting Notice.

Best regards,

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