An FSC Chain of Custody certificate for products proves that the wooden parts of your certified products are possible to trace back to well-managed forests, company controlled sources or recycled material. COC certification allows companies that manufacture and market forest products to label them with the FSC brand consistent with FSC policies.
FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) is a non-profit organisation that has a history from 1990. The organisation is devoted to encouraging the responsible management of the world’s forests and has developed the most recognised scheme for sustainable forestry and traceability of forests products, and the scheme is growing globally.
More and more companies that use wood or paper-products in their businesses are recognizing their responsibility to ensure that not only do they know the origins of the wood/fibre used, but also that they ensure that the wood/fibre is produced in an environmentally responsible manner. The Chain-of-Custody (COC) is the path taken by raw materials harvested from an FSC-certified source through processing, manufacturing, distribution, and printing until it is a final product ready for sale to the end consumer.
There are three different FSC labels:
FSC 100%
Products with an FSC 100% label originate entirely from forests certified as meeting the environmental and social standards of FSC.
FSC Mixed Sources
Products with an FSC Mixed Sources label support the development of responsible forest management
worldwide. The wood comes from FSC-certified well-managed forests, company controlled sources and/or
recycled material.
FSC Recycled
Products with an FSC Recycled label support re-use of forest resources and use only post consumer
recycled wood or fibre in accordance with FSC standards.
Company controlled sources are controlled, in accordance with FSC standards, to exclude illegally harvested timber, forests where high conservation values are threatened, genetically modified organisms and violation of people’s civil and traditional rights.
To be able to use a FSC-label you have to be certified against the appropriate FSC-standards. There are several different standards, for example for the different types of wood sources, and standards for different types of certificates, for example Multi-site, Group and Projects.
DNV is accredited by FSC to provide FSC CoC certification worldwide.
Where do I go from here?
For third party certification, you need to implement an effective environmental management system complying with the requirements of the standard. Here you will find a description of the FSC CoC Evaluation Process (pdf) and you will find the relevant standards on the FSC homepage.