BSI Inspectorate Costa Rica S.A. approved as a verifier of Starbucks Coffee

PRESS RELEASE

10 January 2005

BSI Inspectorate Costa Rica accepted as an approved verification company for the Starbucks Coffee Program in the Central America Region

Commenting on the approval, General Manager of BSI Inspectorate Costa Rica, Fernando Arizaga said: “The acceptance of BSI Inspectorate Costa Rica S.A. as an approved verification company for the Starbucks Coffee Program required that our technicians be thoroughly trained in the theory and practices of the Starbucks CAFE Practices program. We are delighted that we can now add this service offering to complement our current capabilities and help the producers in Costa Rica and in Central America to demonstrate their compliance to good practices for Starbucks.“

Originally introduced in 2001, the Starbucks C.A.F.E. Practices Evaluation Guidelines are comprised of five Subject Areas: Product Quality, Economic Accountability, Environmental Leadership - Coffee Growing, Environmental Leadership - Coffee Processing, and Social Responsibility. Collectively, these criteria/principles/subject areas define the socio-environmental-economic-quality aspects of coffee growing, processing and trading that Starbucks wishes to consider when deciding which coffee vendors it prefers to do business with.

This approval means that the services that BSI Inspectorate Costa Rica SA can offer the largest coffee producing companies now include CAFÉ certification, lab services, inspection services for exporters, ISO certifications and EurepGap.

_ENDS_

For more information please contact:

Wilma Tulloch on +44 (0)20 8996 6330 OR
Marc Edney on +44 (0)20 8996 6330