The move follows widespread calls from the timber trade in the UK and abroad for the proposed system, which will replace paper-based claims entering, to be reformed and further pilot tested, with more widespread industry consultation before roll-out.
A letter to this effect was recently sent to FSC director-general Kim Carstensen by a range of environmental auditing bodies and timber industry organisations, including the TTF and BM TRADA.
Now FSC certification holders will have to register and connect to the system and send connection requests to suppliers next April.
But they need to enter their FSC claims on receipt of goods only if they want to trial the system. The FSC board will not make claims entry compulsory until the voluntary use period has been evaluated and further amendments made.
A ‘test sandbox’ on the site is also being built for companies to experiment with the system.
The OCP entails buyers entering the FSC certification numbers of every consignment of certified timber and forest products they buy, on receipt of the supplier’s invoice.
Their customers will have to do the same along the supply chain.
For more on this story, see next week’s TTJ.
