PEFC holds public consultation on Russian certification scheme

The Russian National Council of Forestry Certification has submitted the Russian National Forest Certification System for PEFC endorsement. Its full documentation is available at the PEFC Council website www.pefc.org for public consultation and all interested individuals and stakeholders groups are invited to comment on the system by 30 March 2008.

Professor Alexander Isajev, Chairman of the Russian National Council for Forest Certification, said: "PEFC certification is of utmost importance to the forest and timber sector in Russia. We are delighted to submit our forest certification scheme for PEFC endorsement and look forward to advancing forest certification in Russia."
Mr Ben Gunneberg, Secretary General of PEFC Council underlined that "Russia has been identified as the highest priority in regional certified area growth over the next ten years in our Strategic Plan. We are therefore delighted to start the endorsement process of the Russian National Forest Certification System with the public consultation period. The comments received will be integrated in the assessor's report. The independent assessment prior to any PEFC endorsement ensures that a consistently high and stringent quality and performance level is applied by all PEFC endorsed certification systems globally."
The Russian National Forest Certification System documentation can be reviewed under www.pefc.org > Members&Schemes > Russia > Russian National Forest Certification System.

For more information contact:

ASSESSOR
Pöyry Forest Industry Consulting Oy
Petteri Pihlajamäki
P.O.Box 4 (Jaakonkatu 3)
FI-01621
Finland
Tel. +358 9 8947 2772
Fax. +358 9 878 2881
Email: petteri.pihlajamaki@poyry.com
www.poyry.com

APPLICANT
Russian National Council of Forestry Certification RNCFC
Mr Maxin Sinitsin
Mr Aleksey Bobrinsky
Institutskaya street, Building 1
Pushkino town, Moskow region
Russia 14120
Tel/Fax: +7 495 332 62222
Email: ecogroup@mail.ru; baburina@go.ru

PEFC Council
Mr Ben Gunneberg
17, rue des Girondins
L-1626 Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Tel. +352 26 25 90 59
Fax. +352 26 25 92 58
Email: info@pefc.org
www.pefc.org

Editor Notes

PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes)
PEFC is a framework for the assessment and endorsement of national forest certification systems 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 systems from all over the world, delivering hundreds of millions of tonnes of wood to the processing industry and then onto the market place from currently more than 194 million hectares of certified forests. This is an area which is larger than the combined forest area of all European Union member states. PEFC has strong grass roots support from many stakeholders including the forestry sector, governments, trade associations, trade unions and non-governmental organisations.