Become FSC Certified:
More than 940 forest managers and 12,500 producers have demonstrated their committment to responsible forest management by certifying their operations to FSC standards.
Benefits of becoming FSC certified include:
- Contributing to improved management of the worlds forests
- Access to the rapidly growing market for FSC certified products
- Risk Management
- Improved community relations
- Customer recognition and loyalty
- Improved management systems
- Third party verification of product origin
FSC certification is carried out by FSC accredited certification bodies. FSC itself does not certify forest operations or manufacturers. This maintains FSC's independence between its standards and requirements, and operations seeking certification.
There are two types of FSC certificates available from certification bodies:
Forest Management (FM) Certificate:
Forest management certification involves an inspection of the forest management unit by an independent FSC-accredited certification body to check that the forest complies with the internationally-agreed FSC 10 Principles of Responsible Forest Management.
If the forest complies with FSC standards, then the FSC accredited certification body issues a certificate for the operation. Certified forest operations can claim the forest products they produce come from a responsibly managed forest.
Before a certified forest operation can sell their products as FSC certified, they must also obtain chain of custody certification (FM/COC).
For more information on FSC Forest Management standards here in Australia please click here
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Chain of Custody (COC) Certificate:
Chain of custody certification provides a guarantee about the production of FSC-certified products. The main objective of CoC certification is to ensure that material from FSC certified forests is tracked through the production process. Chain of Custody certification applies to manufacturers and others who process, transform or trade forest products. Every link in the supply chain that takes legal ownership that wishes to on sell the 'FSC certified product' claim must be CoC certified.
From a customer perspective, the FSC label represents a promise that is being made to them. Chain of custody standards are the mechanism FSC has to ensure that 'promise' is delivered.
Operations that have been independently verified for FSC chain of custody certification are eligible to label their products with the FSC logo.
To view the FSC Chain of Custody Standard please click here
Accredited Certification Bodies:
There are currently four FSC-Accredited certification bodies operating in Australia. Please use the links below to enquire about FSC Forest Management and Chain of Custody certification.
Scientific Certification Systems (SCS)
Dr Robert Hrubes
rhrubes@scscertified.com
www.scscertified.com/forestry
SGS Qualifor
Ursula Antunez
ursula.antunez@sgs.com
www.forestry.sgs.com
Smartwood Program, Rainforest Alliance
Loy Jones
ljones@ra.org
www.rainforest-alliance.org
Soil Association Woodmark
Emily Blackwell
EBlackwell@SoilAssociation.org
www.soilassociation.org/forestry
You can download an up-to-date list of certification bodies operating worldwide by clicking here
