Wednesday, 26 March 2025
FSC US Forest Stewardship Standard Revision Update
The topline objectives of the ongoing revision of the US Forest Stewardship Standard (FSS) are to align with the FSC Principles & Criteria Version 5 and International Generic Indicators, and to address stakeholder-identified priority topics. The process was initiated in 2018, with two FSS drafts publicly consulted between 2020 and 2022.
In December 2022, FSC US submitted a Draft 3 FSS to FSC International for approval. From mid-year 2023 through 2024, the FSC US Board of Directors (serving as the Standard Development Group) responded to four iterative sets of comments from FSC International by making edits to the standard and/or providing explanations for why the indicators were presented as they were. In September 2024, a Draft 4 standard was submitted by FSC International staff to the International Policy & Standards Committee (PSC) for decision. The PSC is a committee of the FSC International Board of Directors that has delegated authority from that Board for decisions on FSS for most countries/regions.
Due to the complexity of the standard and some fundamental concerns, the PSC responded that they were only able to conduct a preliminary review. They provided FSC US with a set of comments and recommended changes to implement within the FSS, before resubmitting for reconsideration. The PSC comments were highly diverse, from highlighting misaligned definitions in the glossary of terms, to identification of International Generic Indicator elements believed to be missing from Draft 4 indicators, to concern about normative-sounding language in guidance notes and non-normative annexes.
Where the comments suggested the need for a change, the FSC US Board considered the potential impact of these changes on the following strategic elements: growth and stabilization of FSC certification in the US; alignment with potential partners; process integrity; and impact at scale (i.e., ability to achieve FSC US’ vision statement). Using this strategic framework, the FSC US Board and FSC US staff worked closely together to address the PSC comments through further edits and development of explanations. Earlier this month, FSC US resubmitted the further revised FSS to FSC International for reconsideration. A short review by FSC International staff will be followed by PSC review of the Draft 5 FSS and a formal decision regarding approval.
We anticipate the following revised timeline:
Final Approval: Mid-2025
Publication: January 1, 2026
Transition Period*: Early-2026 to Early-2027
*Due to other ongoing revisions within the FSC system, the transition period may be extended from 12-months to 18-months. Additionally, the FSC US Board requested a delay in the start of the transition period following publication of the revised FSS to give certificate holders and Certification Bodies more time to prepare for audits under the revised standard.
Both the old standard and the revised standard will remain valid during the transition period. To remain certified, existing certificate holders will need to be audited to the revised standard prior to the end of the transition period.
While FSC has already initiated a process to revise the Principles & Criteria (from Version 5 to Version 6), with a planned completion date in late-2028, the new FSC US FSS will not need to be updated immediately. When the FSS is next up for revision (based on the timeline in the applicable normative document, currently 5 years after the new FSS becomes valid), it will need to be aligned with the new Principles & Criteria.