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| The Estonian Forest Certification Scheme has been endorsed by the PEFC Council. This decision was taken following a comprehensive standard setting process, public consultation periods that allowed numerous stakeholders to contribute to the development of the scheme and an independent assessment. This endorsement brings the number of PEFC endorsed national certification schemes to 24.
At the same time the PEFC Council re-endorsed four national certification schemes, namely the Belgian Forest Certification Scheme, the Danish Forest Certification Scheme, the Swiss Q-label Forest Certification Scheme and the PEFC UK Certification Scheme for Sustainable Forest Management, after their rigourous assessment.
All schemes have been endorsed or re-endorsed for a 5 year period. PEFC is the only forest certification system that assures 5-year revisions of each endorsed certification scheme. These regular reviews and re-assessments by independent assessors and a peer review of the assessment by a panel of experts are one of PEFC's benchmarks and underline the continuous improvement process PEFC is rigorously implementing. The full assessment reports are available online.
"We are particularly proud to announce one endorsement and four re-endorsements today. The Estonian Forest Certification Council has been working hard over the last years in order to comply with PEFC's requirements. The endorsement by PEFC allows Estonian forest owners to certify their sustainable forest management to a certification standard that is adapted to their national conditions and to respond to the growing demand for PEFC certified wood from the international market," said Mr Ben Gunneberg, Secretary General of the PEFC Council. "The re-endorsement of four national forest certification schemes proves at the same time the commitment of our members to PEFC and underlines PEFC's leadership in the continuous improvement of forest certification," he added.
For more information contact:
Mr Ben Gunneberg, Secretary General PEFC Council, Tel: +352 26 58 90 59
Mr Kalle Pold, Chairman Estonian Forest Certification Council, Tel: +372 608 3386
Mr Bertrand Auquière, Secretary General PEFC Belgium, Tel: +32 2 223 442
Mrs Tanja Olsen, Secretary General PEFC Denmark, Tel: +45 33 24 42 66
Mr Urs Amstutz, Secretary General PEFC Switzerland, Tel: +41 32 625 88 10
Mr Willie Walker, Secretary General PEFC UK, Tel: +44 1829 770 43
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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 200 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.
Forest Certification
Forest certification is a process which provides an assurance to purchasers of wood and paper products that the wood used in the products comes from sustainably managed forest. It involves the certification of forests (Sustainable Forest Management certification) and the certification of the wood flow via processing, manufacturing and trading enterprises (Chain of Custody certification) to the final consumer.
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