Objective: To adjust and revise the indicators held in the document of “Principles and Criterions” of the RTRS and to give a direction for each country.

Length: The developing process of nationalinterpretations guides, carried out, as a first step by National TechnicalGroups and its following revision carried out by part of the InternationalTechnical Group, will take place from August 2009 until March 2010approximately.

Methodology: To carry out the national interpretations, a National Technical Group will be formed (NTG) by country defined as reference(Argentina, Brazil, China, India and Paraguay). To ensure the continuity of thetransparency and the participation of the different actors of the value chain of soy, each group will be constituted by a maximum of 8 local specialists. Two members of each group representing the RTRS (producers, civil society andindustry) each one with the right to one vote, and they will leave 2 available places to invite a specialist in the theme, such as auditors from a certification entity, who will be allow to give his opinion, but not to vote.
The specialists will be selected according to their capacities in legal aspects and specific rules of each country; specific knowledge on good agricultural practices, and sustainable agriculture;knowledge on regulations related to social aspects; knowledge on weather,biodiversity and affairs related with water and soil preservation; and practical knowledge in audits’ execution, and/ or implementation of standards with social aspects.
The group will work over the document Principles and Criterions and will develop indicators and guides, which will have to be reach first of all by agreement.
It is important to clarify that national interpretations, under no circumstances will contradict the generic P&C ofthe RTRS.

See Terms of Reference of NTG