Revised UK Woodland Assurance Standard going for PEFC endorsement

The PEFC UK certification system, of which the UK Woodland Assurance Standard is part, has been submitted to the PEFC Council for re-endorsement. Its full documentation is available at the PEFC Council website www.pefc.org for public consultation and all interested individuals and stakeholder groups are invited to comment on the system by 20 March 2007.

"PEFC holds public consultations prior to any decision on whether or not to endorse a national forest certification system", said Mr Ben Gunneberg, Secretary General of the PEFC Council. "This gives all interested and affected organisations as well as individuals the opportunity to voice their views and contribute to the process. The comments received become an important part of the independent assessor's report, which will be made publicly available and forms the decision basis for or against endorsement of the standard by PEFC."

For the documentation of the UK forest certification system click here.

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 UK Ltd.
Mr William B Walker
Jupiter House
High Street, Tattenhall,
Cheshire CH3 9PX
United Kingdom
Tel. +44 1829 770 438
Email: wbw@pefc.co.uk
http://www.pefc.co.uk

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: comms@pefc.org
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 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 193 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.