New Europe going for PEFC certification - Estonian and Slovak Republic systems presented to public

PEFC has proven to be the preferred choice for two more national forest certification schemes, the systems from Estonia and the Slovak Republic. The two standards have entered the stringent PEFC endorsement process and are available at the PEFC website for public viewing and comments.

"Public consultation is a vital element of the PEFC endorsement process and assures that everyone's view is taken into consideration", said Mr Ben Gunneberg, Secretary General of PEFC Council in Luxembourg. "I encourage anyone interested in forest certification to send any comments by 7 May 2005 directly to the independent consultant, Jaakko P?yry Management Consulting, who are assessing the schemes."

The consultant, chosen through a tendering process, examines the conformity of the systems against the PEFC Council's requirements, incorporating comments received from the public consultation. The consultant's final report forms the basis of the decision on endorsement by all members of the PEFC Council. The complete PEFC endorsement usually takes nine to twelve months.

The two certification systems are the 20th and 21st national PEFC member systems that are undergoing the endorsement review process. Currently 17 national systems already have been endorsed by PEFC and the certification standards from Brazil, Canada, Lithuania and Luxembourg are at different stages of the endorsement process. In Eastern Europe, the Czech Republic and Latvian schemes have already been endorsed, while Poland and Russia are currently preparing their national systems to undergo the demanding PEFC endorsement process.

The standards of Estonia and the Slovak Republic can be reviewed under:

www.pefc.org (Estonia)

www.pefc.org (Slovak Republic)

For more information contact:

Consultants
Jaakko P?yry Management Consulting
Mr Petteri Pihlajam?ki
P.O. Box 4
Jaakonkatu 3
FIN - 01621 Vantaa
Finland
Tel. +358 9 8947 2772
Fax +358 9 879 7031
petteri.pihlajamaki@poyry.fi
www.consulting.poyry.com

Applicant
Estonian Forest Certification Council
Mr Kalle P?ld
Eesti Metsasertifitseerimise N?ukogu
Viljandi mnt. 18a
Tallinn 11216
Estonia
Tel + 372-608 3386
info@efcs-estonia.org

Applicant
Slovak Forest Certification Association
Mr Luboslav Mika
Sokolska 2
960 Zvolen
Slovakia
Tel +421 45 520
Fax +421 45 547 9506
info@pefc.sk
www.pefc.sk

Editor Notes

Forest Certification
Forest certification is a process which provides an assurance mechanism to purchasers of wood and paper products that the wood used in the products comes from sustainably managed forest. Sustainably managed forest are those whose management implements performance standards based on internationally agreed environmental, social and economical requirements.

Estonian Forest Certification Council
The Estonian Forest Certification Council (EMSN) was founded as a non-profit association in 2001 to promote the sustainable forest management in Estonia through certification. A wide range of organisations participate in the work of EMSN, among them forest owners, forest industry, trade unions, foresters, municipalities, hunters, representatives of churches, organisations for nature protection and for tourism.

Slovak Forest Certification Association
The Slovak Forest Certification Association (SFCA) was founded in 2002 to establish a national forest certification system that is compliant with the PEFC requirements. The SFCA was established as a three-chamber system with representatives of forest users, wood processors and stakeholders like, trade unions, universities and research institutes.

PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes)
PEFC is a framework for the mutual recognition of credible national or regional forest certification schemes that have been developed based on internationally recognised requirements for sustainable forest management. Since its launch in 1999, PEFC has become the largest forest certification umbrella organisation covering national schemes from all over the world, delivering hundreds of millions of tonnes of wood to the processing industry and then onto the market place from over 57 million hectares of certified forests. PEFC has strong grass roots support from many stakeholders including the forestry sector, governments, trade associations, trade unions and non-governmental organisations.