Governance & Policy
Segregated Chain of Custody
Definition
The segregated model is a chain-of-custody approach used by certification schemes (FSC, RSPO, Fairtrade and others) in which certified material is physically separated from non-certified material at every stage of the supply chain, so that a product sold with a claim contains only certified content — though mixing of certified material from different sources is allowed. It sits between identity preserved (single source) and mass balance (proportional mixing) in the model hierarchy.
References
Overview
How it is used
Schemes define permissible models per claim; companies select models balancing claim strength against logistics; auditors verify separation at each control point.
Why it matters
Chain-of-custody models determine what a certification label physically means; understanding segregation versus mass balance is essential to reading claims honestly.