Deadlines for FSC chain of custody and controlled wood standard implementation

Published 19 January 2007

FSC is in the process of updating standards, and the deadline for compliance with the new standards varies according to company type. This update is relevant for all FSC Chain of Custody (CoC) certified companies, although most important changes are related to companies who are mixing FSC certified and non-certified material. Below, you can find an overview of applicabe standards and a brief guidance according to company type.

Status of the standard development

In November 2004, FSC released two new standards:
־ the Chain of Custody standard FSC-STD-40-004 (version 1), which is only relevant for production companies
־ the Controlled Wood standard FSC-STD-40-005 (version 1)

Until now these standards have only been mandatory in cases where companies wanted to use the options available in the new standards (e.g. credit scheme) or wanted to control the sources of non-certified material. During 2005 and 2006, FSC has been revising these standards and along with the improved versions, the standards are now also becoming mandatory for various types of companies.

Version 2 of the Controlled Wood standard (FSC-STD-40-005) was published in October 2006 and includes some specific effective dates based on company type. The CoC standard (FSC-STD-40-004) is still under revision, and version 2 is expected late 2007. Until then version 1 is valid and can be used.

Overview of the main applicable standards

NEW STANDARDS

FSC CoC STD-40-004	FSC chain of custody standard for companies manufacturing FSC-certified products (Version 1.0). This is the full FSC Chain-of-Custody standard which is presently valid and includes requirements for different schemes (batch, threshold, credit). During 2007 an improved version 2 of this standard will be produced. Version 1 is only valid for processing companies. Traders, log traders and printers can not use this standard and must sill use the old standards (see below).
SW CoC Limited Scope Standard	This standard is made by SmartWood and is based on the full FSC COC standard (FSC-STD-40-004). It is much shorter and simpler, however it can be used only by companies who are NOT mixing certified material with non-certified material themselves (companies who are physically separating FSC material in all processing). This standard is similar to the old standard and is recommended to use for all companies using a batch system.
FSC CW STD-40-005	Standard for company evaluation of FSC Controlled Wood (Version 2.0). The origin of non-certified material which the company wants to mix with certified material (if credit or threshold systems are used) must be controlled according to this standard. An important note is that companies presently certified according to version 1 have to be in compliance with the version 2 already at the time of their annual audit in 2007.

OLD STANDARDS

SW CoC Standard (Dec 04)	This is the older SmartWood Chain of Custody standard: SmartWood Chain-of-Custody Certification Standard, version December 2004. This standard is valid for all types of companies.
FSC-POL-40-001	FSC Policy on Percentage Based Claims, May 2000: This document is used together with the old CoC standard (SW COC Std Dec 04) by companies who want to mix certified and non-certified material.

Guidance for various company types

Primary manufacturers
During 2007 the primary manufacturers can continue to use the old Chain of custody standards or change to the new COC standard (version 1). From 2008 we expect that all primary manufacturers shall start using new COC standards (version 2).

Companies who are not mixing certified material with other material are in all cases recommended to start using the new Limited Scope standard at the first annual audit.

Companies mixing FSC certified and non-certified material have to ensure that the non-certified material is in compliance with the FSC controlled wood (version 2) standard already during 2007.

Secondary manufacturers
The only difference between primary and secondary manufacturers is that secondary manufacturers who are mixing FSC certified and other material can wait until 2008 with implementation of the full FSC controlled wood standard (FSC-STD-40-005, ver 2) for the non-certified part.

Brokers, traders, log supply companies, printers
Since the existing FSC CoC standard (FSC-STD-40-004 ver 1) is not applicable for brokers, log traders and printers, nothing changes for them in 2007. Such companies still have to follow the old SmartWood COC standard (version Dec 04) for the certified material. FSC percentage based policy (FSC-POL-40-001) has to be followed if the mixed products are traded. The policy also has to be followed by printing houses.

Log traders mixing FSC certified logs with non-certified shall also follow FSC Percentage Based Policy. The non-certified logs mixed with FSC material should be controlled according to the FSC controlled wood standard (FSC-STD-CW-005 ver 2), although until the end of this year implementation of the controlled wood standard is still optional.

More information

Please contact NEPCon if further information or clarification is needed. NEPCon staff is actively involved in the technical working groups developing the standards for COC and controlled wood and have a first hand knowledge on the requirements of the standards.

The FSC standards can be downloaded from the Documents section of NEPCon’s homepage (www.nepcon.net).

NEPCon is also in process of translating the standards into the local languages. Please contact the local NEPCon representative for information about the availability of the translated versions.