Saturday, 31 July 2010
New US CoC Group Member Eligibility Requirements
This week, the FSC Policy and Standards Unit approved a 5-year pilot program for expanded eligibility by US small businesses in FSC Group Chain of Custody (CoC) certificates. The pilot was proposed by FSC-US and was the subject of considerable research and stakeholder consultation last fall. As a result, FSC Group CoC certificate programs are now available to any small business with annual forest product sales less than $5,000,000, regardless of the number of employees. read more …
Saturday, 31 July 2010
Transitory Requirements
The FSC Board of Directors recently approved changes to the timelines for strengthened the requirements for Chain of Custody (CoC) certification with the Chain of Custody standard (FSC-STD-40-004 (Version 2): FSC Standard for Chain of Custody Certification) in November 2007. A transitory period for compliance was granted for two exemptions: co-products from uncertified virgin material input to be exempt from Controlled Wood requirements, and a labeling threshold of 50% for chip and fiber based products under the percentage system. read more …
Sunday, 04 April 2010
New FSC Trademark Standard
The FSC trademark guarantees customers that an FSC-labeled product has been verified as having been sourced from well-managed forests, controlled sources, recycled sources, or a mixture of these. Any company within the supply chain that manufactures, processes, transforms, or takes legal ownership of FSC fiber needs to be FSC chain of custody (CoC) certified in order to place an FSC label on a product or to make or pass on an FSC claim. read more …
Saturday, 12 December 2009
New US Forest Management Standard Close to Final
Last month, the FSC-US Board recommended draft 8.1 of the Forest Stewardship Council's US Forest Management Standard to FSC-International (FSC-IC) for final approval. Their vote marks the final stretch of a two-year standard revision process, which has included extensive involvement by a diverse FSC-US Working Group, Standards Committee, Board of Directors and stakeholders who participated in the two rounds of public comments and conference calls read more …
Monday, 30 November 2009
Plantations management standard comment period open until December 9
The draft standard for plantation management, Principle 10, of the FSC-US Forest Management Standard is available for the first 60-day phase of public consultation. FSC-US is committed to a consensus-based, inclusive and balanced standards development process, and all comments will be carefully considered by the FSC-US Board. read more …
Monday, 10 August 2009
USGBC Plans to Release Second Draft of Forest Certification Benchmark
The Materials and Resources Technical Advisory Group (MR-TAG) and staff of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) are finalizing revisions to the second draft of a benchmark with which the USGBC plans to assess the rigor of forest certification systems for recognition in the LEED green building rating system. read more …