Public Consultation of Malaysian forest certification schemes assessment kicks off

PEFC International encourages all stakeholders to comment on the assessment of Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme (MTCS). This public consultation is an important aspect of PEFC's endorsement process, ensuring that all interested parties can input into the process.

MTCS was established in October 1998 to develop and operate a voluntary national timber certification scheme in Malaysia. It has been a member of the PEFC Council since 2002.

"Stakeholder involvement and transparency are key features of our governance structure", says Ben Gunneberg, Secretary General of the PEFC Council. "Public consultation allows us to tap into the knowledge of everybody concerned and therefore increase the quality of the assessment process."

Consultations on the national level preceded this global consultation, and all comments received will be taken into account by the external consultants and included in the report. An independent panel of expert will review the assessment report before any decision about endorsement by PEFC can be made. The final report will be made available on the PEFC website.

Please submit your comments directly to the assessor latest by 23 September 2008.

ASSESSOR
INDUFOR OY
Ms Hanna Nikinmaa
Toolonkatu 11 A
FIN-00100 Helsinki
Finland
hanna.nikinmaa@indufor.fi
www.indufor.fi
Tel +358 684 0110
Fax. +358 9 135 2552


APPLICANT
Mr. Lye Teng Chew , Chief Executive Officer
19F, Level 19, Menara Pgrm
8 Jalan Pudu Ulu
Cheras
56100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
www.mtcc.com.my
info@mtcc.com.my
Tel : +603 9200 8003
Fax : +603 9200 6008

PEFC Council
Jaroslav Tymrak
World Trade Centre 1
10 route de L'Aéroport
CH-1215 Genève
Switzerland
www.pefc.org
info@pefc.org
Tel: +41 (0)22 799 45 40
Fax: +41 (0)22 799 45 50

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.