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| The Austrian forest certification system has gained re-endorsement by the PEFC Council. An independent assessor has analysed the system and found it to be compliant with PEFC?s international benchmark requirements. ?We are delighted that our endeavours to further develop the Austrian certification system have now secured us continuing PEFC endorsement for a second 5-year period?, said Mr Martin H?barth, Chairman of PEFC Austria. ?The process prior to the endorsement and the changes made to the Austrian system, show that PEFC?s rigorous benchmark system is working?, said Mr Ben Gunneberg, Secretary General of the PEFC Council.
Austria submitted its national system for PEFC re-endorsement in June 2005. In an initial evaluation, the independent assessor assessing the scheme identified a number of areas, in which the Austrian system did not comply with PEFC's latest high international requirements. The certification stakeholders in Austria therefore fully revised the system before submitting it for a second assessment and international public consultation in June 2006.
"The periodic revisions and assessments that PEFC endorsed systems must undergo, guarantee that all PEFC requirements are continuously and equally implemented into all national standards" explained Mr Gunneberg. "To date, seven PEFC endorsed systems in Europe have gone through national revision processes, covering an area of more than 50 million hectares of PEFC certified forests."
The assessor's full report on which the PEFC member countries based their decision to re-endorse the Austrian forest certification system is publicly available at the PEFC Council website www.pefc.org.
For more information please contact:
Mr Oliver Scholz, Communications Manager PEFC Council
Tel. +352 26 25 90 59
Mr Dietmar Hagauer, Secretary General PEFC Austria
Tel. +43 1 402 470 217
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