FSC Certification

Forest Stewardship Council Certifications

There are two types of FSC certifications that support responsible use of worldwide forests:

Forest Management Certification

FSC sponsors a Forest Management Certification based on internationally accepted FSC principles and criteria. This program is a voluntary process for verifying responsible forest practices in all type of forests and plantations.

This certification level requires an inspection of the operation that handles forest management. This inspection is conducted by an independent FSC accredited certification body. If the operation complies with FSC requirements that support environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable forest management practices.

The certification standards are developed at the national or regional level, not at the common international level. In the case where there are no FSC accredited standards in place, FSC accrediting organizations can use accredited generic standards.

Included in these standards are requirements for compliance with national legislation, local use rights and indigenous people's rights, ecological functions, biodiversity, economic viability, and adequate operations management.

Costs for certification vary depending on the size and complexity of the forest area. For additional information on the Forest Stewardship Council or their certification programs, check out the FSC-related websites:

-- http://www.fsc.org/

-- http://www.fscus.org/

Chain of Custody Certification

While Forest Management Certification is for the woodland manager, Chain of Custody Certification is the certification level path taken by other users in the production chain, from the forest to the consumer. This can include all successive stages of processing, transformation, manufacturing and distribution.

The main objective of Chain of Custody Certification is to ensure that FSC-certified materials are tracked throughout the supply chain between, primarily in production processes within operations.

These companies are audited by an FSC-qualified organization, primarily checking that the operation has a control system in place to track sources and uses of certified materials. This control system is intended to prevent FSC-certified or reclaimed material from getting mixed with material illegally harvested material from forests.

FSC Certifications demonstrate compliance with policies like the EU Ecolabel specifications and the U.S. Green Building Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system.

For additional information on the Forest Stewardship Council or their certification programs, check out the FSC-related websites:
-- http://www.fsc.org/
-- http://www.fscus.org/

Only FSC certified operations are allowed to label products with the FSC trademarks. Here is a summary of the different levels:

For more information on SmartWood, a FSC forest certifying organization, check out their website at: http://www.smartwood.org/

For more information on the regional FSC certifying organization in the Adirondack Park in upstate New York, check out their website at: http://www.rcpa.org/