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Rainforest Alliance seeks feedback on core legality standards
5 August 2011
 Industry, governments, NGOs and interested individuals are invited to comment on three standards that are central to the Rainforest Alliance’s Timber Legality Verification programme. The 60-day public consultation opens amid increasing momentum in the European market for the new EU timber regulation.
Ranked as the top verification programme by Greenpeace International, the programme verifies the legality of wood at the forest and along the supply chain. Global in scope, the three documents under revision aim to provide a well-defined, practical entry point for companies seeking to harvest and source legal timber.
The standard for forest management enterprises (FMEs) has been separated into two standards, while only one standard would apply to traders, producers and suppliers of forest products. Once final, the standards will be adapted to each region and will be used in assessments and audits for Rainforest Alliance legality verification services.
The Rainforest Alliance announced its plans to phase out the verification of legal origin (VLO) standard by 1 March 2013. The standard was developed as the first of a two tier approach to help companies apply a gradual approach to legality verification.
This intention reflects an increasing demand for verification of legal conformance in the market, which evaluates companies against a more complete set of legal requirements. Existing VLO clients will have a transition period of one year to make the necessary changes to become verified against the VLC standard or move forward to full FSC certification or FSC Controlled Wood. No new VLO verification statements will be issued from 1 March 2013 onwards.
> Read the Rainforest Alliance’s announcement (27 July 2011)
Constructive suggestion and opinions on the proposed drafts are extremely valuable. Submit your comments by 24 September 2011 to Christian Sloth, Verification Services Manager, Rainforest Alliance/NEPCon by email.
> Generic Verification of Legal Origin (VLO) standard for FME (VER-03)
> Generic Verification of Legal Conformance (VLC) standard for FME (VER-04)
> Generic Legality Standard for Processing and Trade (VER-23)
The previous versions of the VLO and VLC generic standards are available for download here.
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Brazilian company ready to export legal sawn timber (5/11 2010)
Verified legal teak furniture from Indonesia hits the market (8/9 2010)
New Rainforest Alliance mark for verified companies (20/8 2010)
Recognition for the VLC scheme by the Danish government (8/6 2010)
Is it legal? New Rainforest Alliance tools offer enhanced assurance for wood products (9/2 2010)
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