FSC launches new standards

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) has launched four new chain of custody standards which, it claims, represent a "breakthrough" for the certified forest products industry.

The standards, approved by the organisation's board of directors at the FSC's 10th anniversary conference in Bonn, are the result of a three year review process and are designed to strengthen the integrity of the FSC system and provide customers with clearer options when buying responsible forest products.

They include systems for tracking and labelling the quantity of FSC-certified material in products, improved control of wood from uncertified forests and the first global scheme for identifying and verifying recycled material.

FSC executive director Heiko Liedeker said the "unique" aspect of the standards was the provision of a mechanism for improving forest management practices even in non FSC-certified forests, with the aim of ensuring uncertified material in FSC labelled products comes from controlled sources and is not illegally harvested, gentically modified or from high conservation forest areas.

Sofia Ryder, FSC policy officer co-ordinating the standards, said: "These standards represent a strong improvement for the FSC system. The blockages in the previous chain of custody system were resulting in companies that processed high percentages of FSC-certified material only being able to label a small percentage of the final product."

Wood product manufacturers, sawmills and furniture makers can use the standards for FSC chain of custody certification from October 1, with new labels arriving within the next two months. Manufacturers currently holding chain of custody certificates will have to comply with the new standards by 2007, while companies applying for certification have until 2006.