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Technical Updates

Wednesday, 21 August 2024
Consultation on Chain of Custody Standards

Help Us Re-envision How FSC COC Certification Works
Have you ever thought the FSC Chain of Custody (COC) certification could be better structured? Should we have tiered certification, a more modular approach? Should we certify Urban forestry? Maybe we focus too much on unimportant aspects of certificate management. Do we have too many audits or not enough audits?

Make Your Voice Heard
Here is your chance to make your experiences, ideas, and opinions, known. This is the opportunity to explain what works and what doesn’t work in the US and to affect change that will guide certification for years to come.

FSC is looking for input in revising the Chain of Custody Standards and the corresponding standards [FSC-STD-40-004, FSC-STD-40-003, FSC-STD-40-007 & FSC-STD-20-011] and as part of the conceptual phase, FSC is conducting a public consultation and would like to invite all interested stakeholders to participate.

The consultation is open from August 16, 2024 through October 15, 2024. Results of this consultation will contribute to preparing the Terms of Reference for the revision of the Chain of Custody standards.

Webinars Outline Key Changes Being Considered
To complement this consultation, FSC will conduct four webinars with simultaneous interpretation in Spanish and French for stakeholders to provide feedback and learn more about proposed key changes. To join, please register in advance using the following links: (webinar content will be the same)

You can find the following consultation material at:

Conceptual phase report (EN), CoC_Conceptual-phase_D0-2 2.pdf

Consultation questions, Questions_CP_consult_40-004_Packet 2.pdf

Register to use the consultation platform at https://consultation-platform.fsc.org/en/consultat […]

For any questions, please feel free to contact the FSC team at chainofcustody@fsc.org.

Technical Working Groups Will Move Your Feedback Forward
The next step in the process will be for FSC to form global Technical Working Groups to focus on the results of this consultation, previous feedback, known issues, and on how and what changes to make in the certification system.

Please join us for this rare opportunity to re-envision how FSC COC certification works.