PEFC invites public to comment Norwegian Living Forests Standards

Five years since its first endorsement by the PEFC Council, the Norwegian Living Forest Standards and Certification Scheme has applied for PEFC re-endorsement. The PEFC Council has appointed the independent external consultant SAVCOR INDUFOR OY to assess the Norwegian system against the international PEFC requirements for credible forest certification schemes. Part of the assessment is a 60-days public consultation period, starting today, during which all interested parties and individuals are invited to comment on the Norwegian certification system.

The Norwegian certification scheme is already the fifth system, after Finland, Sweden, Germany and Austria, that is seeking PEFC endorsement for a second 5-year term. "The Norwegian certification system has proven to be a very successful tool for sustainable forest management, especially for the small scale forest ownership in our country" said Mr Svein S?gnen, Secretary General of PEFC Norway, "9.2 million hectares of Norwegian forests are certified against our national standard, which produce more than 95 % of Norway's annual harvest of timber".

"To ensure credibility and transparency, PEFC certification requires public participation at all levels", said Mr Ben Gunneberg, Secretary General of the PEFC Council. "Be it during the certification audits at forest management level, the development of national standards in PEFC member countries through to the international endorsement of national certification systems - at all levels public consultation is being undertaken. The public consultation period for the re-endorsement of the Norwegian certification system starts today and I invite everyone to review the system's full documentation at www.pefc.org and send their comments directly to the consultant SAVCOR INDUFOR OY until 24 December 2005."

For more information please contact:
Consultants
SAVCOR INDUFOR OY
Ms Hanna Nikinmaa
T??l?nkatu 11 A
FIN-00100 Helsinki
Finland
Tel +358 684 0110
Fax. +358 9 135 2552
Email: indufor@savcor.com
http://www.savcor.com

Applicant
PEFC Norway
Mr Svein S?gnen
Postboks 1438, Vika
N-0115 Oslo
Norway
Tel +47 22 01 05 50
Fax +47 22 83 40 47
Email: pefc.norge@skog.no
http://www.pefcnorge.org

PEFC Council
Mr Oliver Scholz
17, rue des Girondins
L-1626 Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Tel +352 26 25 90 59
Fax +352 26 25 92 58
Email: pefc@pt.lu
http://www.pefc.org

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 forests are those whose management implements performance standards based on internationally agreed environmental, social and economical requirements.

Norwegian Forests
Norway is covered with 12 million hectares of forests. About 80 % is family-owned, mainly in combination with farms. There are a total of approximately 120,000 forest holdings in Norway, with an average size of 50 hectares. Small forest holdings, the steep and varying terrain conditions and the variable production potential have created great variations in the forest landscape. The main species of tree are spruce, pine and birch.

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 126 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.