Russia has made the first step towards certifying its forests to the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes (PEFC) by joining the PEFC Council.

The membership of the National Voluntary Forest Certification Council in Russia, approved at PEFC’s general assembly in Chile, has been welcomed by the certification organisation as positive action for the promotion of sustainable forest management in the country.

Nikolai Eremeev, president of the Russian scheme, said PEFC was the only system to provide credible third-party certification, sustainability assurance, and certified timber access to world markets, as well as building on internationally-recognised agreements.

The PEFC general assembly also saw the endorsement of the first two non-European national schemes, Australia and Chile, plus the approval of an Italian certification system. This means more than 55 million ha of forests have now been PEFC-certified worldwide.

In addition, the PEFC Council presented a new international chain of custody (CoC) standard to track wood flows from certified forests to final consumers, which it says can be used by all forest certification systems. The standard is designed to provide consistency and efficiency for firms operating in more than one country

Companies planning to apply for a PEFC CoC certificate are required to use the new standard from April 1, 2005, while manufacturers currently holding certificates have to comply by their next yearly audit, at the latest by April 1, 2006.