Accreditation of third-party verifiers.

Third-party verifiers that conduct audits in accordance with this part must: (a) Be accredited to ISO 14065: General principles and requirements for bodies validating and verifying environmental information by a member of the Global Accreditation Cooperation Incorporated (Global ACI); (b) Be unrelated to the entity seeking verification. To avoid any real or potential conflict of interest, a third-party verifier must not have a relationship with the entity based on one or more of the following factors (this is a non-exclusive list): familial or personal relationship, or shared ownership, governance, management, personnel, resources, finances, contracts, or marketing (including branding); and (c) Assign at least one verifier to the verification team who is an Agricultural Expert. [91 FR 39358, June 29, 2026]