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Dovetail Report: November 2004 Beginner's Guide to Third-Party Forest Certification: Shining a Light on the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes (PEFC) Kathryn Fernholz To request a hardcopy, please call or email for ordering information. The full text of this report is available in Adobe PDF format (1.7 MB) . An Introduction to the PEFC The Pan-European Forest Certification System (PEFC) was started in 1999 with the involvement of members from eleven countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Finland, Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. The PEFC is a “global umbrella organization for the assessment and recognition of national forest certification schemes.” In 2003, at the 7th PEFC General Assembly, the acronym PEFC was changed to mean the “Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes” [1] . This change was made to reflect the increasingly global scope of the organization. The PEFC has the support of various stakeholders, including segments of the forest products industry, governments, trade associations and unions, and non-governmental organizations. The PEFC also has a history of successful engagement with private landowner organizations. The PEFC membership includes 28 national forest certification schemes, of which 16 have been reviewed and endorsed through the mutual recognition process. All PEFC members are expected to commit to implementing PEFC requirements and PEFC-compatible national schemes [2] . The 16 PEFC endorsed schemes represent more than 130 million acres (55 million hectares [3] ) of forestland. According to the PEFC website, more than 40% of European forests are PEFC certified. The largest national program is the Norwegian Living Forest Standard (LFS) Certification Scheme, which represents over 22 million acres (9 million hectares). Very recently, in October 2004, the PEFC endorsed its first schemes outside of Europe and also accepted Russia as a new PEFC member [4] . Chile was the first non-European country to seek PEFC endorsement [5]. The Australian scheme also gained PEFC endorsement in October 2004. The Canadian Standards Association (CSA), Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), and American Tree Farm System (ATFS) have been members of PEFC since 2001 but their systems have not yet been endorsed by the PEFC. The CSA Sustainable Forest Management Program has recently applied to the PEFC Council for assessment [6] , the first step toward achieving endorsement. In the U.S. the SFI is also reportedly considering an application for endorsement in 2004 [7]. Besides the CSA program, PEFC member schemes for Brazil, Luxembourg, and Portugal are currently being reviewed [8] . Unlike most forest certification systems that develop, own, manage, and implement their own standards, the PEFC has developed a set of standards that are used to review other systems' standards and operations. Standards that meet the PEFC requirements are then “endorsed” by the PEFC and are eligible to make use of the PEFC logo and marketing claims in addition to any labels associated with their independent program. The PEFC Board and Council engage consultants to conduct audits and country visits to review programs that have applied for endorsement. The PEFC does not accredit auditors or set certifier requirements beyond recognizing international standards such as the accreditation procedures of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) [9] . [1] http://www.pefc.co.uk/press.htm [2] PEFC press release “PEFC Council General Assembly: PEFC Documentation Completely Revised”, 22 Nov 02 [3] http://www.pefc.org/internet/html/news/4_1154_65/5_1105_1076.htm [4] http://www.pefc.org/internet/html/news/4_1154_65/5_1105_1073.htm [5] http://certificationwatchconference.org/quebec-city-2003-summary.htm [6] http://www.pefc.org/internet/html/news/4_1154_65/5_1105_1024.htm [7] http://www.sfms.com/recognition.htm [8] http://www.pefc.org/internet/html/news/4_1154_65/5_1105_1076.htm [9] www.pefc.org/internet/html/documentation/4_1311_400/4_1208_165/5_1177_454.htm Download the full text of this report. (PDF) Report Update: The CSA SFM Program was endorsed by PEFC on 22 March 2005, for more information visit the PEFC website. The SFI Program applied for PEFC endorsement on June 14, 2005.
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