Italy is the latest country to put its forest certification scheme, based on the Pan European Forest Certification (PEFC) model, up for public scrutiny.
The scheme, which is being examined by independent consultants appointed to assess its conformity with the PEFC Council’s requirements, has been posted on the internet at www.pefc.org.
PEFC Council chairman Henri Plauche-Gillon said: “I encourage all interested parties to review the scheme on the internet and send any comments they have directly to the independent consultants.”
The scheme has been designed to take account of the small-scale forest ownership in Italy where 1.2 million people own and manage an average of 7.5ha each.
It is believed that up to 500,000ha may be certified according to the Italian forest certification scheme in the next couple of years.
