Semi-Announced and Unannounced Audits

What does it mean when you receive a request from your buyer to do a semi-announced or unannounced audit?

When a producer receives a notification from their buyer requiring that a semi-announced or unanounced audits will be the preferred auditing method, the following is important:

• Please find out when this should be implemented. Does a new audit need to be conducted, or will this type of audit only be required for the next audit cycle?
• If you supply to more than one market, please ensure that all your buyers will accept the chosen audit.
• To ensure that you have a valid Audit Completion Letter (certificate) to supply to buyers, always remember to check the validity of your audit documents as part of your preparation for the coming season.

How does SIZA assist you to adhere to this requirement from your market?

To accommodate the request of your buyer, SIZA has implemented an option on the MySIZA platform where you as the producer will have the option to select what type of audit you need, based on what the requirements of the buyer are. Here are the differences between the three audit request types:

• Unannounced (the employment site has no prior warning of when the audit will take place until 24 hours before the audit date).
• Semi‐announced (the employment site is aware that an audit will take place during a given time period, but the actual date of audit is not communicated until 48 to 24 hours before the actual date).
• Announced (at a mutually convenient date agreed with employment site).
• Combined (this refers to whether the SIZA social/ethical audit should be combined with WIETA, or in the case of SIZA Environmental audits, whether it should be combined with the producer’s GLOBALG.A.P. IFA audit).

Producers should ensure they are aware of what type of audit is required from a particular market, before making the correct selection on MySIZA and communicating this clearly to the chosen audit firm. Once the audit firm has received the request, it is important that you ensure that your audit is scheduled according to your requirements. This should be arranged prior to the day of the audit.

How to request an audit on the MySIZA platform

1. As a producer, you must have an approved SAQ to request an audit.
2. Navigate to the latest approved SAQ on the MySIZA platform, and select the audit firm you would like to use.
   1. You must then indicate whether the audit must be announced, semi-announced, or unannounced.
   2. You must also indicate whether the audit should be a combined audit (i.e., SIZA/WIETA or SIZA Environmental/GLOBALG.A.P.).
3. If the audit should be announced, as in the past, the audit firm will schedule the audit for a date agreed upon with you, and you will receive an email confirmation with this date.
4. If the audit should be semi-announced or unannounced, the audit firm will provisionally schedule the window period of the audit. This means any period between two weeks and two months, during which the audit will take place.
5. The producer will only be notified of the exact date 48 to 24 hours before the actual date.

For more information, feel free to contact Werner van Dyk at the SIZA office at 021 852 8184 werner@siza.co.za.

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