A scheme shall be granted recognition of equivalence if the scheme's overarching due diligence principles, its requirements for economic operators participating in the scheme, and the specific responsibilities of the scheme itself are aligned with the applicable requirements of Regulation (EU) 2017/821.

The requirements of paragraph 1 shall be considered met where the Commission considers that the conditions for the scheme to be rated as ‘fully aligned’ in accordance with Section 4 of the OECD Methodology are satisfied based on its assessment of all applicable specific criteria having regard both to the scheme's policies and standards and the scheme's implementation of them.