In Germany, since February, ISCC has been made aware of potentially fraudulent behaviour regarding unusual trade volumes in the field of biodiesel made from waste and residues coming from China. Furthermore, ISCC was told that the increase of up to half a million tons of biodiesel from China caused a dramatic fall in biodiesel prices in European markets.
ISCC has reacted immediately by initiating unannounced integrity audits at both randomly selected biodiesel and HVO plants in China, as well as at economic operators, which have been reported to ISCC by authorities and other stakeholders. In this process, seven certificates have been withdrawn or temporarily suspended so far. However, the sanctions of these seven economic operators did not conclusively indicate criminal behaviour.
ISCC is in contact with the authorities of the European Commission and the German Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (Bundesanstalt für Landwirtschaft und Ernährung (BLE)), which operates the governmental web application for sustainable biomass Nabisy. The BLE filed charges against some economic operators at the public prosecutor’s office in Bonn, Germany. ISCC is providing all required information to these authorities.
