Chile and Latvia seek PEFC re-endorsement: public consultation open
Stakeholders globally are invited to provide feedback on their compliance with PEFC International's Sustainability Benchmarks by 18 January 2016.
Chile and Latvia seek PEFC re-endorsement: public consultation open
24 November 2015 PEFC system news
The CERTFOR Chile System and the Latvia PEFC Certification Scheme have become the latest systems to seek PEFC endorsement for the third time. Stakeholders globally are invited to provide feedback on their compliance with PEFC International's Sustainability Benchmarks by 18 January 2016.
The first endorsement of the Chilean system back in 2004 was particularly significant as, alongside Australia, it became the first non-European country to be recognized by PEFC. Since then, almost two million hectares of forest have been certified in the country.
Latvia is one of the most forested countries in Europe, with forest covering more than half of the Latvian territory. Since Latvia was first endorsed by PEFC in 2001, half of the country’s forests - more than 1.6 million hectares - have achieved PEFC certification. With about half of the Latvian forests owned by the state, there are about 150,000 private forest owners in Latvia, who, together with their families, form a remarkable part of society in country with a population of just over 2 million people.
PEFC International ensures that national systems are revised regularly in multi-stakeholder processes by limiting the validity of endorsements to five years, after which they can apply for re-endorsement to continue benefitting from PEFC recognition.
As part of the endorsement process, PEFC seeks comments and feedback from all interested parties to ensure full compliance of the national systems with PEFC's Sustainability Benchmark during a 60-day global public consultation.
All comments received during the global public consultation will provide valuable information for the third-party assessor in determining whether the respective national system is in compliance with international requirements.
All stakeholders are invited to use PEFC's Online Consultation Tool to provide comments on the Latvia PEFC Certification Scheme and the CERTFOR Chile System by 18 January 2016.