PEFC suspends endorsement of Swiss Q-label

The PEFC Council has suspended the Swiss Q-Label Wood Certification Scheme for non-compliance with three PEFC requirements. These are compliance with the international PEFC chain of custody rules; the provision of a publicly available certification report summary of the certification results and information from external parties being used as evidence in the forest certification process. The Swiss Q-Label Certification scheme?s suspension will be lifted once sufficient evidence of compliance on all three issues has been presented to and approved by the PEFC Council Board of Directors.

All Swiss Q-label certified forest areas cannot be considered as PEFC certified, nor can the Swiss Q-label chain of custody be considered as PEFC compliant until the suspension has been lifted. In addition the PEFC logo and claims cannot be used in association with Swiss Q-label products until the suspension has been lifted.

The PEFC Council will work closely with the representatives of the Swiss Q-Label Wood Certification Scheme to ensure PEFC endorsement of the Q-label system is reinstated as soon as possible.

For more information please contact:
Mr Oliver Scholz, Communications Manager PEFC Council
Tel. + 352 26 25 90 59

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

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 127 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.