PEFC rejects Greenpeace call to ostracise APP

The Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes (PEFC) has told Greenpeace it cannot simply withdraw certification from Indonesian pulp and paper producer APP over the green group’s allegations that it is using illegally felled timber.

Greenpeace UK campaigner Andy Tait wrote to PEFC in October saying that the company was implicated in “deforestation activities”. He also said that it was using its PEFC accreditation to “create the impression that its products from Indonesia come from legal and sustainable sources”.

He said that PEFC’s response to ask SGS Forestry, the auditor which originally accredited APP, to investigate was insufficient, and urged the organisation to cease its “association” with the Indonesian business.

In response PEFC International chairman William Street said that it did not have the “legal power” to withdraw certification, but had to go through the SGS investigation procedure to see if APP was in breach of its rules.

“Your request for PEFC to participate in a campaign ostracising a forest stakeholder in the absence of clear documentation of violation of PEFC standards would place us in legal jeopardy,” he said.

He also invited Greenpeace to become a PEFC member.

“Withholding the expertise Greenpeace can offer the PEFC, whch is responsible for two-thirds of certified forests, diminishes both organisations,” he said.