Frequently Asked Questions on FSC certification
All you ever wanted to know about Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification
The direct purpose of any form of certification is to provide verification that something - a product, service or process - has been done as prescribed. Forest certification is the process of inspecting particular forests or woodland to see if they are being managed according to an agreed set of standards.
Any system of forest certification comprises four essential elements:
- a set of 'standards' which represent 'good' or 'acceptable' practice. These must be locally relevant but also compatible with international standards or definitions of good practice in order for the standards to have credibility and widespread acceptability.
- a formal auditing process which, in an independent and objective manner, compares the systems and activities of an enterprise with the standards. In the case of forest certification this involves matching the management of a forest with the appropriate 'production standards' or a forest processor (sawmill, pulp mill, furniture manufacturer etc.) with 'processing standards'.
- a system for identifying the source of a product. In the case of forest certification this means being able to trace the forest from which wood (or another product) originates - commonly called a chain of custody audit.
- a foolproof system for applying a certificate and labelling any product.
In its simplest form a certification should comprise four steps: application, inspection (or audit); decision; issuing of the certificate.
Reference to EFI: http://www.efi.fi/cis/english/background/faq.php
Why certification?
In the last twenty years, forest problems worldwide have been on the increase. The area of land occupied by forests and the quality of forests have both declined, especially in the tropics and boreal areas and stakeholders are in conflict over the goods and services that forests provide and which are becoming increasingly scarce. It is generally acknowledged that the basic causes of the problems faced by forests are due to policy, market and institutional failures. Certification has been identified as a key market based initiative to improve forest management worldwide.
The basic requirements for a credible forest certification system
Certification is a process by which an independent third party provides written assurances that a product, process or service conforms to specified requirements. To be effective forest certification must:
- Be based on objective, comprehensive, independent and measurable performance-based standards - both environmental and social;
- Be based on equal and balanced participation of a broad range of stakeholders;
- Be based on a labelling system that includes a credible chain of custody;
- Be based on reliable and independent third party assessments and include annual field audits;
- Be fully transparent to the parties involved and the public;
- Take place at the forest management unit level (and not at country or regional level)
- Be cost effective and voluntary;
- Positively demonstrate commitment from the forest owner/ manager towards improving forest management;
- Be applicable globally and to all sorts of tenure systems, to avoid discrimination and distortion in the market place.
FSC is currently the only certification system which meets these basic requirements. Beware of misleading labels - unfortunately many labels are on the market which do not hold what they promise. For more information about other certification systems and their evaluation (.pdf 291kb)
What are the benefits of credible forest certification?
The principal expectations is that certification can provide a market based incentive to improve the management of forests. Other effects of certification are to improve mechanisms for producer accountability; to improve the working conditions for forestry workers; to provide a mechanism for different forest stakeholders to reach common solutions; to provide a learning framework and benchmarking tool for best practice forestry; to improve the image of the forest industry and to challenge policy/legal frameworks in forestry.
Credible forest certification such as the FSC provides the following benefits:
- CONSUMERS Through the FSC Trademark the public will at last have a way of identifying that the product they are purchasing originates from a forest which has been harvested legally and is managed according to internationally agreed social and environmental principles and criteria. A MORI poll conducted in 1990 showed that 80% of the consumers would buy 'green' products given the choice. The FSC Trademark will give them that choice with timber-based products.
- RETAILERS AND TRADERS have a marketing mechanism which is responsible and both ecologically and socially responsibly and economically profitable
- FOREST OWNERS have the benefit of promoting that their forests are well-managed and sustainable for long-term economic growth.
Environmental benefits of certification
Conservation of biological diversity and its values: water resources, soils, unique and fragile ecosystems and landscapes:
- Maintenance of ecological functions and integrity of the forest
- Protection of threatened and endangered species and their habitats
- Conservation of biological diversity in managed forests including High Conservation Value Forests, forests of outstanding and critical importance due to their environmental, socio-economic, biodiversity or landscape values.
Social benefits of certification
Respect for the rights of local communities, indigenous peoples and forest workers:
- Mechanisms to ascertain the ownership or use rights for local communities and indigenous peoples
- Framework for resolution of social conflict over the utilisation of forest resources
- Increased attention to safety for forest workers
- Balanced participation of all forest stakeholders
Economic benefits of certification
Market and non-market benefits of credible certification include:
- Access to new markets
- Improved image
- Efficiency gains through best practice forestry
- Competitive advantage in increasingly environmentally sensitive markets
- Insurance premiums for reducing environmental risks
- Reducing the general risk profile of companies on questions of corporate responsibility
What is the Forest Stewardship Council?
The Forest Stewardship Council, FSC, was founded in 1993 by forest owners, timber industries, social groups and environmental organisations as a global, independent, non-governmental, non-profit organisation. The objective of the FSC is to promote environmentally responsible, socially beneficial and economically viable forest management world-wide.
FSC is a membership organisation. Any forest owner, timber industry, labour union, environmental organisation, indigenous peoples' group or individual may become a member of the FSC and guide its development. The members of the FSC have developed ten international principles and criteria for certification of good forest management.
National FSC working groups adapt these principles and criteria to the specific conditions of the respective country. In many regions of Europe only minor adaptations of forest management are necessary to fulfil the requirements for an FSC certificate. FSC has local offices throughout the world, including 16 European countries.
Who supports FSC?
FSC is currently the only organization offering a credible worldwide timber certification scheme for all forest types and plantations, and as such has already received endorsement and active commitment from a wide range of respected NGOs, including WWF, Friends of the Earth, and Greenpeace.
Furthermore, FSC has the support of a large and growing number of companies, who have united themselves in various countries into 'buyers groups'. The members of such buyers groups have committed themselves to selling only independently certified timber and timber products within 3 - 5 years. The FSC-labeling scheme is the preferred scheme for buyers groups in the UK, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Brazil, USA and Japan.
This unprecedented alliance of major companies, NGOs and a host of other supporters around the world, means that the commercial, social and environmental impact of the FSC Trademark on timber-based products is going to be enormous and unavoidable. More
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How is FSC certification done?
A forest operation, or a representative of a group of forest owners and operators, commissions an FSC accredited, independent certifier to inspect the way the forest area is being managed. Certification is awarded for good management practices, not to the present condition of the forest. " Group certification is not a heavy financial burden nor does it involve a lot of work.", says Elisabeth Dahlbäck, private forest owner, Sweden.
What is chain of custody?
Chain of custody is the process by which the source of a timber product is verified. In order for products originating from certified sources to be eligible to carry the FSC Trademark, the timber has to be tracked from the forest through all the steps of the production process until it reaches the end user. Only when this tracking has been independently verified, the product is eligible to carry the FSC logo.
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What is the market development of FSC?
Markets in north-west Europe, especially the UK, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany, are becoming strongly aware of certification. There are also emerging north American markets. A growing number of products are already available, such as wooden kitchen utensils, doors, frames etc. As more forests are certified, the number of products will rapidly increase.
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What is the difference between FSC and ISO?
FSC's scheme is based on specified performance standards that need to be met by the forest operation before a certificate is issued. The environmental management system standard from ISO (ISO 14000-series) is a process standard. It specifies how a company's management system must be organized to address environmental aspects and impacts of its operations.
Often forestry businesses tend to stress the need for process over performance, stating that all forests and enterprises are different and it is inappropriate to force single sets of performance targets on all enterprises, irrespective of their starting points and capacities.
However process standards alone are not enough. FSC and ISO are fully compatible and can be complementary. ISO standards can provide the framework and control mechanisms for the management system, within which the FSC standards serve as the target performance level. The FSC accreditation system is based upon the relevant ISO-guides.
How does FSC operate?
International FSC Principles and Criteria of Good Forest Stewardship drawn up by FSC, together with more region-specific standards drawn up by local FSC working groups, form the cornerstone of FSC's operations. In practice, certification is carried out by independent and impartial FSC accredited certification bodies.
FSC certification can be obtained by asking a certification body to evaluate the forest and management methods used. The certification body, for example, assesses the environmental impact and enforcement of workers' rights. If operations are deemed to fulfil the FSC Criteria, certification is granted. The end product, made of certified wood, may carry the FSC Trademark only if all steps in the production process (saw mill, manufacturer, etc.) can be verified to have used FSC-certified wood and have been granted a CoC certificate thereof.
What is the meaning of the certification code?
An individual certificate code is issued for each FSC certificate and each stage of production that has been granted a CoC certificate. On the basis of the certificate code, the origin of the wood product can be traced all the way to the forest where wood was originally harvested. The FSC certificate code issued below the FSC Logo on the product is essential when it comes to verifying the authenticity of the logo. Therefore, if a shop buys FSC certified products, the buyer has to ensure that the delivery document or receipt contains the CoC certificate code:
In order to verify the authenticity of the product, the deliverers have to submit a delivery document or receipt containing the CoC code to the retailer. Before the product can be advertised as a FSC product, this document must be shown to FSC-nominated agent who checks that the CoC codes concerning the raw material chain and the FSC certificate of the origins tally.
When can a product become FSC labelled?
A product can be FSC-endorsed only if the production chain can be fully and reliably traced from the forest through all the manufacturing stages. This traceable chain, which is referred to by the acronym CoC (Chain-of-Custody), is one of FSC's strengths. A reliable CoC is conspicuous by its absence in many other certification systems. When a sawmill, furniture manufacturer, or some other part of the production chain has demonstrated compliance with the credibility requirements, it is granted a CoC certificate.
Products may carry the FSC trademark only if all enterprises along the previous wood chain hold a CoC certificate, that is, all enterprises participating in the manufacture and packing of the product, etc.
There are two elements in the CoC: the opportunity to trace wood within the enterprise and at the points where wood proceeds from one organisation to another. The enterprises pay special attention to every stage that may include a risk of contaminating certified wood with other wood from non-certified forests. Each possible risk has to be analysed, and a suitable control method developed (such as storing certified and non-certified wood in different places, the marking of different wood, and/or precise bookkeeping).
When raw material proceeds from one enterprise to another, both the seller and buyer of wood will ensure that the other party has a valid CoC certificate. In addition, the circulation of raw material is controlled by comparing whether the amount of bought and sold raw material indicated by the seller and the buyer tally.
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What are FSC international guidelines for good forest practice?
In a certification process the actual management of the forest is compared to a standard of good forest practice through:
- performance standards which cover operations and their impacts
- And through process/management system standards which cover enterprise policies, management systems and processes
In order to use the FSC Logo, forest management must comply with the main ten FSC principles, the related specific sub-criteria, and region-specific local standards. The main principles are are found on the FSC International website.
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What are the costs of certification?
The costs of certification must be distinguished from the costs of improving management to a level where a certificate can be awarded. In general the direct costs of certification are variable from certifier to certifier.
Group certification allows new avenues to share costs and administrative burden of direct certification costs. Efficiency and health and safety gains can outweigh the costs of certification once necessary management improvements have been made.
The forest enterprise normally pays the costs. But sometimes the costs are borne by the buyer, because they wish an existing relationship with a forest enterprise to continue. Occasionally costs are borne proportionately by a number of processors and manufacturers along the chain of custody.
How is the quality of FSC certification assured?
To work properly, the practice and results of certification must be credible to the consumers, the market and the various stakeholders. Ideally certification should be transparent and, above all, independent. To assure that certification meets these conditions, an assessment of the skills, procedures and impartiality of certifiers themselves is required; this process is called accreditation. The Forest Stewardship Council has a well developed process for accrediting its own certifiers.
FSC-accredited certification bodies are required to fulfil strict requirements of reliability and expertise. The performance of each accredited certification body is closely monitored by FSC, ensuring that the appropriateness of their operations can be constantly guaranteed. Correspondingly, certification bodies audit certified forests and enterprises on a regular basis. If the certification body finds non-compliance with the FSC Principles and Criteria, the certificate and the right to use the FSC Trademark are cancelled. This has been the case, for example, in some teak plantations in Java, Indonesia.
The system guarantees that the reliability of FSC is constantly up-to-date.
