locating Controlled Wood inputs

Below is our brief guidance for FSC-certified companies who need to locate Controlled Wood supplies. There are two main options:

1) The easy option: Buy controlled wood from FSC suppliers

The easiest option is to buy Controlled wood from a company holding a combined CoC/CW certificate. These companies can typically offer both FSC-certified products and products carrying the Controlled Wood claim. In practice, this is also the only option for sourcing Controlled Wood available for companies that are not buying products directly from the forest.

Companies certified to deliver FSC Controlled Wood can be found on www.fsc-info.org and will have a green checkmark in the CW column. Hundreds of companies are already approved to sell “FSC Controlled Wood”, and the number is growing fast.

2) Setting up the company's own verification system

For companies that purchase products directly from the forest, it is possible to set up their own system for company evaluation of controlled wood. A pre-requisite for a CW system is that you can document the origin of all the incoming material back to the forest management unit.


Secondly the CW system includes a requirement for the company to elaborate a risk assessment for their wood sourcing. The assessment must cover each of the five risk categories that form the basis of the FSC Controlled Wood system, and must be made publicly available at the FSC database www.fsc-info.org. Depending on the outcome of the risk assessment, field audits to the Forest Management Units may be required to verify that the material is not controversial.

Companies which need to develop their own risk assessment may find it useful to check with the Global Forest Risk Registry, a website that provides geographically organized information about these risk categories. The website is currently under development, but is already considered useful by FSC as a tool in Controlled Wood risk assessment.

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