The coffee and cocoa industries and countries of origin have made significant investments in supply chain sustainability processes and technology over many years. ICE CoT aims to build on this infrastructure by allowing market participants in the supply chain to upload farm-geolocation, farmer physical-flow (movement, merging and splitting of parcels), and processing (roasting, grinding, converting beans to butter and powder, etc.) data in respect of a product “parcel” into ICE CoT.
ICE CoT is designed to run a series of validation checks on the farm-geolocation and farmer, and the physical-flow and processing data that is submitted, conducted in accordance with published methodologies, in order to establish that the relevant products in the parcel were not made from commodities produced in areas of deforestation, or in protected forest areas, and that the data is reasonable and plausible.
Provided the validation checks in respect of a product are passed, ICE CoT would accept the parcel and store all associated traceability data alongside it.
As a result, ICE CoT could be used to help suppliers satisfy their due diligence obligations under the EUDR and evidence the compliance of their product to potential buyers before they trade, thereby supporting the tradability of compliant coffee and cocoa within the EU.
When a parcel passes from a seller to a buyer, the seller would record the transfer within ICE CoT and the associated traceability data would remain with that parcel. The buyer of the parcel would be able to view certain traceability data for the parcel, such as the list of plots from which the product was sourced. More sensitive traceability data, including the full chain of custody and physical movement of the product, would remain confidential, unless the seller chooses to make this information visible to the buyer.
If an NCA needs to conduct checks on a buyer under the EUDR, ICE CoT could make the full set of traceability data available to that NCA as required.