Tuesday, 01 June 2004
FSC-Accredited Certifier Opens Office in U.S.
The SGS Group, an FSC-accredited certifier, and The Plum Line, a well-known partnership specializing in sustainable forest management systems, have announced a new business alliance in FSC certification in the U.S.
The SGS Group was founded in 1878, and is the world’s largest organization in the field of third-party inspection and verification. SGS operates in more than 140 countries with over 1180 offices and more than 32,000 full-time employees. The SGS Qualifor Program is the SGS Group’s forest certification program, internationally accredited by FSC. SGS has granted more than 180 forest management certificates covering over 40 million acres of forest in more than 40 countries.
The Plum Line is a full-service forestry consulting partnership. Founded in 1999, The Plum Line offers certification, consulting, and training services related to sustainable forest management systems in the U.S., often by partnering with other providers of similar services. The Plum Line’s principals are Fellows of the Society of American Foresters, and have been active leaders in public service surrounding forestry issues.
While SGS brings its global accreditations to the alliance, The Plum Line provides its U.S. forestry experience along with its extensive network. The two companies also share a common dedication to improving the various certification systems of which they are a part and to raising the level of forest auditing in general. “This is a two-sided responsibility,” says Fabrice Lantheaume of SGS, “on one hand we all must work to improve the clarity and applicability of forest certification standards but, on the other hand, forest auditors must audit objectively to the standards in place at the time of an audit.” Charles Levesque of The Plum Line states, “one thing that attracted us to SGS is the common sense of professionalism and balanced customer service that is so necessary in maintaining and improving the credibility of forest certification systems.”
SGS’s newly appointed Forestry Projects Coordinator, Daniel Simonds, will serve the U.S. market.
Other FSC-accredited certifiers with offices in the U.S. include Scientific Certification Systems, and SmartWood, a program of the Rainforest Alliance.
For more information, please contact Daniels Simonds, 201 Route 17 North, Rutherford, NJ 07070, phone 207-864-5025 , e-mail djsimonds@tds.net. Websitewww.sgs.com/forestry