# What happens to my Verra project if its validation and verification body is suspended?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/verra-validation-body-suspended-what-it-means

A suspended validation and verification body (VVB) cannot audit or issue reports for the suspended scope without Verra's prior and explicit approval. Suspension can cover the whole programme or specific sectoral scopes, and it is automatic if the accreditation body suspends the VVB. Verra announces suspensions on its website.

## How Verra sanctions a verifier (Program Guide, section 6)

- Warning: a warning notice and non-conformity report, requiring a root cause analysis and corrective actions by a deadline.
- Accreditation referral: Verra may share non-conformity reports with the verifier's accreditation bodies.
- Suspension: Verra may issue a notice of suspension at any time, with a copy or detailed description of its evidence. It covers the entire programme or specific sectoral scopes, and is announced on the Verra website.

## What a suspension does

- Whole programme: the verifier's approved status becomes inactive.
- Specific scopes: the status stays active but those scopes become suspended.
- Either way, it cannot conduct validation or verification audits or issue documents such as reports for the suspended programme or scope without Verra's prior and explicit approval.
- It is automatic where the accreditation body suspends it.

## What to do as a project owner

1. Before signing, check the verifier is active for your methodology's sectoral scope on Verra's list.
2. Ask what happens to your timetable and payments if it is suspended mid-contract. The Program Guide does not cover this, so the contract has to.
3. If a suspension is announced while your audit is open, ask Verra whether prior approval can be given, and ask the verifier in writing where your documents stand.

## How a verifier comes back

Reinstatement needs the verifier to show to Verra's reasonable satisfaction that the evidence was inaccurate or misleading, or that the circumstances are no longer current or likely to affect performance, or that the accreditation body has lifted its own suspension. It must also have paid what it owes Verra for programme and reinstatement assessment.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible is not part of Verra's process. Its in-house check is not an accredited third-party verification.

- [How to choose a verification body](https://senseible.earth/answers/what-is-a-vvb-and-how-to-choose-one)
- [Who can audit a Verra project](https://senseible.earth/answers/verra-vvb-eligibility-accreditation-and-sectoral-scope)
- [Verra's rule on rotating verifiers](https://senseible.earth/answers/verra-v5-vvb-rotation-rule)
- [Carbon credits](https://senseible.earth/carbon-credits)

Sources: [Verra, VCS Program Guide v5.0 (16 December 2025)](https://verra.org/documents/vcs-program-guide-v5-0/)

Last reviewed 2026-11-05. Check the current VCS Standard, Registration and Issuance Process and Program Guide on Verra's site before you rely on this; Verra updates them periodically.