FSC®
Frequently Asked
Questions
1. How does the FSC®
Chain of Custody system work?
Forest Stewardship Council® chain of custody certification is able to provide assurances that the certified products come from well managed forests certified against strict practices and forest principles which include:
– Compliance with laws and FSC® Principles
– Tenure and use rights and responsibilities
– Indigenous peoples’ rights
– Community relations and worker’s rights
– Benefits from the forest
– Environmental impact
– Management plan
– Monitoring and assessment
– Maintenance of high conservation value forests
– Plantations
This means the forest owner must use local workers, provide training, safety equipment and a fair wage. Forest owners also have to support the local community, such as helping to develop schools. The FSC® also protects the rights of indigenous people to use the forest – their sacred sites are exempt from felling. Forests that meet these strict standards are given FSC® certification and the timber is allowed to carry the FSC® label.
2. How Does the FSC®
Help the Environment?
Fresh air isn’t the only thing that forests help provide us with. They are also a part of the cycle of clean water and even affect global temperatures. They provide food and homes for animals, medicines, and consumer products like paper and lumber.
Cutting down the forests to use the land for other uses may be profitable, but it’s not sustainable.
The FSC® works to promote responsible management of the world’s forests following strict standards laid down by the Forest Stewardship Council, people can still use the forests for economic gain without destroying them for future generations.
3. How can I be sure that the product really does come from an FSC well-managed forest?
In addition to forest certification, the FSC® system includes a certified chain of custody that tracks the timber through every stage in the supply chain from the forest to the final user. This is monitored through the invoicing process and the final label on the product has a code that confirms that the item is genuinely FSC®.
4. What does the FSC® label mean?
If a product carries an FSC label you can be assured that the product comes from well managed forests independently verified by the rules of the Forest Stewardship Council.
FSC® product labels come in three different types: 100%, FSC® Mix, and FSC® Recycled.
5. Do FSC® certified
products cost more?
We do not increase the prices for our FSC® certified products.
6. Does the chain of custody get broken if the customer is not FSC® certified but Board24 are?
FSC® Chain of Custody certification is really up until the end of the production of the paper (board) element of the product to prove that material was sourced through the supply chain as FSC® certified, which basically is when the carton leaves the corrugator plants.
If additional elements were added by a Sheet Plant such as Pre-Print laminated to the sheet board supplied by Board24 then these would also need to be certified in order to make a formal claim as partial product claims cannot be made.
7. What is a formal claim?
In order to make a formal claim meeting the requirements of the FSC Chain of Custody Standard 40.004v3 a company needs to buy, manufacture and sell products under their chain of custody and record the requirements on their outgoing sales documentation (i.e. Delivery Notes & Invoices) with their unique Chain of Custody number.
8. Which licence number has to be used? Does it need to be Board24’s licence number or can a customer use their own?
When you make a claim you use your certificate number on your Sales Delivery Notes & Invoices TT-COC-006473. If cartons produced by the corrugator plants include the FSC On Product logo (including license code FSC-C105503) then products will be delivered to clients clearly as certified. In many scenarios the acceptance of a finished product with a printed On Product logo on the carton may be good enough to satisfy client requests.
If customers would like to formally pass on a claim then they would need to be certified also and use their Chain of Custody number on your sales & transport documentation.
Board24 – Chain of Custody Certificate Code
TT-COC-006473
Board24 – Trademark Code
FSC-C105503
9. What's The Difference Between FSC & PEFC?
The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) sets the global standard for managing forests with 10 key principles that can be followed by a forest manager.
The international FSC standards have to be interpreted on a national basis in order to be put into effect in local forest areas.
The Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC™) is an international organisation that also focuses on sustainable forest management through external certification, taking into account the ethics and the supply process of timber production. PEFC is not a standards body and operates instead under a scheme of shared party recognition.
Although both bodies are dedicated to well managed forest management, they focus on separate environments. The FSC was initially set up in 1993 for tropical forest areas, but due to the differing climates and forests around the world, this led to the introduction of the PEFC in 1999 to accommodate wooded areas in both Europe and North America.
PEFC represent more than 311 million hectares of forest across 51 countries and holds 20,000 chain of custody certificates.
FSC has 201 million hectares of forest certified across 90 countries and holds 40,000 chain of custody certificates.
