FSC disassociates from European sawmilling giant

20 February 2017


The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) has decided to revoke the Schweighofer Group’s probation status and disassociate from the group.

Schweighofer is one of the largest wood processing groups in Europe, with significant operations in Romania, including three sawmills, one laminated wood panels factory and a blockboard plant. It also has a sawmill in Germany.

The decision was taken by FSC’s international board of directors after additional information about possible violation of timber measurement standards, which will require further Policy for Association investigation to determine scope and impact, was brought to the board’s attention.

FSC considers that initiating an additional investigation is not compatible with maintaining the probation status of the company.

The board also considered that these allegations, if confirmed, could carry an increased risk that products not complying with FSC standards and policies might be traded through supply chains under a prolonged probation status, a situation that is considered “unacceptable for the organisation”.

The Schweighofer Group has informed FSC that it accepts the decision and recognises it as an effective signal to meet stakeholder expectations and encourage their engagement and has consequently decided to terminate its certificates with immediate effect as a way of demonstrating its acceptance and commitment to the FSC Policy for Association.

FSC said it recognised Schweighofer’s efforts during the past three months to develop a preliminary plan of corrective action and encourages it to use this work to continue discussions and to develop a roadmap to end the disassociation. A gradual approach to re-association for the group’s mills outside of Romania could be possible, it added.

Some 3,500 people are directly employed by Schweighofer, while there are over 10,000 indirect jobs in related industries.

 “We will continue to roll out our action plan for sustainable timber processing in Romania,” said the company.

It said it had a constructive dialogue with FSC to define a roadmap for re-association and it also had a clear commitment to fight unlawful logging in Romania “despite the fact that Holzindustrie Schweighofer does not harvest any trees itself”.

The company has invested around €1m to improve the security of the Romanian timber supply chain already in 2017.

“The Schweighofer Group takes FSC’s current decision to disassociate from the group as a cause to further intensify its efforts to implement and optimize its control system to ensure a sustainable timber supply chain in Romania,” it said.