PEFC Newsletter 19 March 2004

8/9/2019 PEFC Newsletter 19 March 2004

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The PEFCC Newsletter is produced by the PEFC Council (Registered as an asbl in Luxembourg No. 1999-61-02192)

17 Rue des Girondins, L-1626 Hollerich, Luxembourg ¦ Tel: +352 26 25 90 59 ¦ E-Mail: [email protected] ¦ Web Page: www.pefc.org

Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification No.19 – Mar 2004

PEFC/01-00-01

International

Accreditation Forum

The Programme for the Endorsement of ForestCertification Schemes (PEFC) has recently beenaccepted as an association member of theInternational Accreditation Forum (IAF). Throughits membership the PEFC Council is now part of,and will work constructively with other, IAF

members such asofficial nationalaccreditation bodies,certification bodies andstandard settingbodies, to assure

businesses and theircustomers, thataccredited certificationbodies are competentto carry out the workthey undertake.

Mr Ben Gunneberg,PEFC Council Secretary General said, “TheIAF’s goal is Certified once – accepted everywhere . This goal is fully supported by thePEFC Council. We will now actively participate inIAF’s accreditation harmonisation processes toensure that accredited forest certificationcertificates issued in one part of the world arerecognised everywhere else in the world.”

Through joining IAF, the PEFC Council hascommitted itself to continue its promotion of thecommon application of requirements forcertification and accreditation as internationallyrecognised by both IAF and ISO (InternationalStandard Organisation).

The international rules defined by ISO requirethat the three tasks namely standard setting,certification and accreditation must be fullyseparated. Our membership in IAF, as astandards setting organization, now creates thefinal link between these three distinct tasks forthe forest certification world. “Our membershipwill enable closer co-operation andharmonisation between these three tasks in away that will increase the confidence ofbusinesses and their customers using accreditedthird party certifications in the forestry sector”said Mr Gunneberg.

InternationalChain of Custody

Since the last newsletter, PEFC has developed aframework document outlining all the basicprinciples, scope and structure required of aninternational chain of custody document. Thisframework document will be published on thePEFC website shortly and is the result of aconsultation process with members,extraordinary members and other interestedparties.

A draft international chain of custody document is

now being prepared based on the frameworkdocument. As part of a wider consultationprocess, the draft international chain of custodydocument will be placed on the PEFC websitesoon and comments will be invited. It isenvisaged that once all comments and viewshave been taken into consideration, a finalinternational chain of custody document will bepresented to members at the General Assemblyin Chile on 29th October 2004.



PEFC Newsletter - Promoting Sustainable Fores t Management For more info: www.pefc.org ( Page 2) For full details of news, press releases, reports etc. see website above

No 19 – March 2004

Three new schemes submitted

for assessment

PEFC is pleased to announce the start of the publicconsultation period for the assessment ofCertforChile, the Chilean national forest certification

scheme and the Australian Forestry Standard AFS.

These are the first non-European schemes to beassessed by the PEFC, which has to datesuccessfully assessed and endorsed 13independent national forest certification schemes

covering some 52 million hectares of certifiedforests, delivering millions of tonnes of certifiedwood based products from sustainably managed

forests to the market place.

The independent consultants appointed, after acompetitive tending process are

Chilean Scheme

Deadline for comments:21

stApril 2004.

Consultants Details:Indufor OyTöölönkatu 11AFIN-00100 Helsinki

FinlandEmail: [email protected]

Australian scheme Deadline for comments:15 May 2004

Consultants Details:JP Management ConsultingJaakonkatu 3P.O.Box 4FIN-01621 Vantaa, Finlandemail: [email protected]

The Portuguese Forest Certification scheme

has also been submitted for assessment

against the PEFC requirements and details ofthe consultant appointed to carry out theassessment will be announced shortly, oncompletion of the tendering process.

All interested people or organizations areencouraged to view the three schemes on ourwebsite www.pefc.org and send comments direct tothe consultants

Reports From The PEFC

National Governing BodiesIn the following section PEFC member schemes,

both endorsed and those working towardsendorsement, have the opportunity to present abrief report on the current state of play in their

country. The views expressed here are the viewsof the members and do not necessarily reflect the

views of the PEFC Council

SLOVAK REPUBLIC

Pilot Study ongoingin Slovak Republic

A pilot project of regional certification is currentlyunderway in the Slovak Republic. The main purpose

of this project is to verify in a practical way thatregional certification can work based on the draftTechnical Documents for the Slovak forest certification

scheme

The applicant for regional certification in this case isForests of the Slovak Republic, a state enterpriseBanska Bystrica, that represents owners and users ofthe specified area. 28 individual users applied for

regional certification within the area, which amounts to71,776 ha. NCCL (National forest certification center)Lesoprojekt Zvolen has already completed the internalaudit.The Certification body, PQM (Perfect Quality Mark),will undertake the external audit. The applicant for

regional certification selected PQM following a tenderprocess.

The Technical documents of the Slovak ForestCertification Scheme will be submitted to the GeneralAssembly of the SFCA (Slovak Forest Certification

Association) for approval, once the certification bodyfor region Banská Bystrica – Zvolen, has issued the

final report. Once approved, the technical documentswill be submitted to PEFC Council in Luxembourg toundergo the official assessment process and hopefullygain endorsement and mutual recognition.

Contact: Mr. Jan KorcekE-mail: [email protected]

AUSTRALIAEvaluation of theAustralian scheme isunderway




No 19 – March 2004

The Australian Forest Certification Scheme (AFS),which was submitted at the 2003 General Assembly inLuxembourg, commences its assessment from earlyMarch to allow the consultant – JP Management

Consulting (Europe) Oy of Finland - to fully evaluate

the scheme against the PEFC Council requirements.“This is an important milestone for forest certificationin Australia. A positive evaluation will help maintaincurrent markets, particularly in Asia, and assist inopening up markets for Australian forest products.”

said Dr Hans Drielsma, Chairperson of AFS(Australian Forest Standard) Limited.

First certification to the AFSGunns Limited, a vertically integrated forestry andtimber company based in the ‘Apple Isle’ of Tasmania,

is the first organisation to achieve forest managementcertification to the AFS in Australia. The 220 000

hectares of certified forest includes natural forests,hardwood (Eucalypt) and softwood (Pine) plantationsacross both its own land and other forest beingmanaged by Gunns on behalf of private growers.

“Certification to the AFS required extensiveindependent third party external auditing of our

environmental, economic and social sustainability,and commits us to a framework of continuousimprovement in forest management. Our certificationsends an independent message to our customers andthe community that our practices are of the higheststandard.” commented Gunns Limited Resource

Manager Calton Frame.

Gunns Limited Certified Forests in Tasmania

“The certification of Gunns Limited provides essentialfeedback that the AFS is a credible forestmanagement standard for Australian conditions as ithas covered all the main forest types at a large scalewithin one forest estate.” said AFS Limited’s ExecutiveOfficer Mark Edwards.

CZECH REPUBLIC

Chain of Custodycertification in the Czech

Republic grows rapidly.

The normative document dealing with chain ofcustody certification CFCS 1004-1:2002 wasendorsed by the PEFC council a year ago. It wasthe first normative document, which followed therevised PEFC Council requirements concerningchain of custody (C-o-C) certification. Last yearchain of custody certification in the CzechRepublic increased substantially. Currently(February 2004) in total 76 individual and group

C-o-C certificates have been issued. Thesecertificates cover 113 firms and companies in theCzech Republic representing 48 loggingcompanies, 29 trading companies, 34 woodprocessing industries and 2 important paperindustries.

One statistic that is remarkable is that half of allchain of custody certificates awarded to datewere issued in the last 3 months. This rapiduptake demonstrates the implementationalsuccess of the new normative document – its

requirements are achievable even for small andmiddle-sized companies. These companiesusually gain their C-o-C certificate and ISO 9001certificate at the same time – thus significantlyreducing the costs of certification.

Contact: Pavel HesE-mail: [email protected]

SPAIN

Regional Certification astep closer - while firsteight certificates of chainof custody are issued

More news, press releases etcfrom the various National

Governing Bodies are available

on the pefc website:www.pefc.org

Contact: Mark Edwards

E-mail: [email protected]




No 19 – March 2004

Regional Certification - expected soon.A seminar with PEFC Certification RegionalAssociation (CPRA) was recently held in Madridto establish how they will be incorporated into the

PEFC Spain governing body.

The admission of these new members is one ofthe best pieces of news for Spain, since the mainresult will be the guarantee of a greaterparticipation of all the interested parties involvedin Sustainable Forest Management. The firstregional certifications are expected by nextspring.

PEFC Spain has drawn up a GeneralProcedure (GP) relating to the Issuance ofPEFC Logo Usage Licenses, which it is hopedwill facilitate a better general understandingby all sectors of society about the PEFCdocumentation and procedures.

This GP (PG 1/2004) is the result of a great effortto extend and improve the documentation usedup to now by PEFC Spain.

Initially, it was only planned to distribute theleaflets to certificate holders, together with apersonalised CD with the PEFC Logo in all its

versions and the certificate holder´s ownRegistration Number. However, due to theexcellent response to and demand for the PEFCLogo Usage Rules Brochure, and the need forinterested parties, including consumers, to havean increased knowledge of the PEFC trademark,labelling processes and PEFC Logo claims,additional copies have been produced.

Eight industries have obtained a CoCcertificate in only six months.

The first CoC certificates were awarded in Spainin September 2003. Since then 8 companiesfrom different industrial sectors (paper pulp,particle board, plywood, flooring, sawmill wood)

have demonstrated their support for the SpanishForest Certification scheme that, with its 192.352hectares of certified forests, is both a nationaland world leader.

Contact: Marta Marcos

E-mail: [email protected]

Further news, updates and information will beavailable in the next issue of PEFC News, whichwill be accessible on the PEFC website in May.

LITHUANIANational Consultationon PEFC LithuaniaForest CertificationScheme

PEFC Lithuania continues its public nationalconsultation on the Lithuanian ForestCertification Scheme. All interested parties inLithuania have an opportunity to review the

scheme (available in English) on the web page ofPEFC Lithuania: www.forest.lt/pefc and sendtheir comments directly to PEFC Lithuania.Throughout the last few months there have beeninformal meetings with representatives of theworking groups. Preliminary proposals forimprovements to the technical document and theorganizational structure of PEFC Lithuania havebeen discussed.

At the moment we are finishing translation of thePEFC Lithuania technical document into

National Forest CertificationSchemes from the followingcountries are members ofthe PEFC Council:Austria, Australia, Belgium,Brazil, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark,

Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy,Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Norway,Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Spain,Sweden, Switzerland, UK and USA. Contactinformation and links to the national websites areavailable on the PEFC website: www.pefc.org

The GP includes asAnnexes: PEFC LogoUsage applications (forForest Mangement (FM)

and Chain of Custody(CoC)), new Contracts(for FM, CoC andentities with educationalpurposes), PEFC LogoUsage Rules Brochure,new Logo Usage Feesand a Guide to Trainingentities endorsement.




No 19 – March 2004

Lithuanian, to make it possible for all interestedparties in Lithuania to read these documents andto submit their proposals to PEFC Lithuania.Interest in the PEFC scheme in Lithuania is

growing constantly. In the coming months, afterthe discussions with stakeholders, we will beready to submit the PEFC Lithuanian forestcertification system to undergo the assessmentprocess by the PEFC Council, hopefully leadingto its endorsement.

Contact: Halina PetrulevicE-mail: [email protected]

GERMANY

PEFC Germanyintensifies its public

relations activities

Since January 2004 PEFC Germany has beenintensifying its public relations activities. A sloganhas been developed by an advertising agency,saying that PEFC certification is a blessing forour forests (“PEFC – Ein Glück für unserenWald”). An advertising campaign in thespecialized press, focussing on Business-to-Business communication (see below), hasbegun, based on this new slogan. Furthermore a

new leaflet for chain-of-custody-certification hasbeen produced and will be mailed to all potentialcustomers in the product chain.

Recently a media resonance analysis wasconducted on behalf of PEFC Germany, whichincluded in its scope an analysis of newspaperonline services. The result: an average of onemention of PEFC is published per day, mainly inthe technical and regional press.The PEFC-certified area in Germany amountedto 6,836,133 hectares in 2,469 community

forests, 2,292 private forests and 830 forestryassociations with 203,000 members. Two furtherregional certificates have been issued toMecklenburg-Vorpommern and the Saar. Now

PEFC covers almost all German regions – exceptfor Schleswig-Holstein. The state forests in theSaar region are now double certified to both FSCand PEFC. Four years after the initial FSCcertification the state forest administrationdecided to get PEFC certified due to ademonstrable demand for PEFC by its majorcustomers.

The number of Chain-of-Custody-Certificate hasrisen to 415 comprising 273 timber traders, 106saw mills, 9 paper mills, 6 wood manufacturers, 6wood constructors and 14 other wood processingcompanies (as of 11th March 2004).

Contact: Dirk Teegelbe kkersEmail: [email protected]

ITALY

Three new workinggroups established fordiffering plantationforestry standards in Italy

New PEFC Italy Working Groups during 2004

During the Tonadico (TN) meeting of 11 February2004 (see picture below), PEFC Italy Councildecided to establish three Working Groups forthe elaboration of different standards of goodmanagement for tree plantations namely poplarplantations, high quality wood plantation andwood biomass plantations for energy purposes.The Working Groups will start at the end ofMarch with poplar plantations, the other workinggroups will establish contacts with experts inorder to facilitate their work.



PEFC Newsletter - Promoting Sustainable Fores t Management For more info: www.pefc.org ( Page 6 ) For full details of news, press releases, reports etc. see website above

No 19 – March 2004

Three new CoC certificatesBartolinlegno, Palm and Palm Work and Projectare the latest companies that have obtained thePEFC Chain of Custody certification. The

Certification Body is ICILA (www.icila.org).Bartolinlegno company (www.bartolinlegno.it)produces garden accessories; Palm companyproduces wood packaging and pallets; PalmWork and Project is a services co-operative andproduces wood packaging, little woodmanufactured articles and small pallets. Thecompanies purchase Scots pine and sprucewood from Austria, Germany and Finland.

Contact: Antonio BrunoriEmail: [email protected]

FINLANDRevised requirements forforest certification inFinland completed

The revised Finnish Forest Certification System(FFCS) standards for forest management werepublished in February 2004. The revisedstandards and description of the FFCS system'sstructure will soon be submitted for considerationunder the PEFC Council's assessment and

endorsement proceedures.

Certificate applicants and forestry organisationswill make decisions at regional level on theimplementation of the new standards during2004. The aim is to utilize the revised standardsthroughout the whole country in forest auditscarried out in 2005.

The rules concerning the practicalimplementation of forest certification and workingmethods have been improved. Participation at

both group forest certification and individualforest holding level are described more clearlythan before. Also, quantitative indicators in theforest and other definitions are moreunambiguous than earlier. Training days forthose people responsible for regional andorganisation level information collection will beorganised during May-June 2004.

Contact: Auvo KaivolaEmail: [email protected]

NORWAY

Almost 50% of NorwegianSawn-wood Productioncovered by Chain ofCustody Certificates

The sawmill Løvenskiold Kirkenær Bruk AS is thefourth Norwegian sawmill to obtain a PEFCChain of Custody certificate and license to usethe PEFC logo. Previously Moelven Timber AS,Begna Bruk AS and Haslestad Bruk AS havebeen awarded with PEFC CoC-certificates andlogo-licenses. Although few in numbers, theproduction of these four companies, compriseapproximately 50 % of Norwegian sawn-woodproduction. In addition the paper producerNorske Skog Sales & Logistics Wood is PEFCCoC-certified.

Contact Elisabeth GillEmail: [email protected]

DENMARK

Niels Peter Dalsgård Jensen has been elected asnew Chairman for PEFC Denmark. Niels Peter isthe Forest Supervisor for Salten Langsø ForestDistrict. The District is an administrative unit thatat the moment consists of 35 independent forestproperties. Niels Peter represents the DanishForest Association in the Danish board.

Palle Thomsen has been elected as new vice-chairman for PEFC Denmark. Palle representsthe Wood Retailers Federation in the Danish

board.Contact Tanja Olsen

Email: [email protected]

PEFC Denmarkelects new chairmanand vice-chairman

above: Niels Peter Dalsgård Jensen