Four national forest certification systems re-endorsed in 2013

17 January 2014 PEFC system news

The re-endorsement verifies that Belgian, Danish, UK and ATFS systems continue to meet PEFC International's benchmark requirements and ensures that national forest owners and Chain of Custody holders benefit from the global acceptance of PEFC certified products.

Combined, these four systems account for over 11 million hectares of sustainably managed forest, many of which owned by small family forest owners represented by the ATFS program. For the Belgian, Danish and UK systems, which were first endorsed back in 2002, this is the second time that these countries have succeeded in achieving the re-endorsement of their systems.

"The re-endorsement of these national forest certification systems shows both the commitment of our members to PEFC and underlines PEFC's leadership in the continuous improvement of forest certification," said Ben Gunneberg, PEFC Secretary General. “We appreciate their continued commitment to our movement, and appreciate the contributions of stakeholder who have participated in the standards revision and assessment processes.”

PEFC International remains the only global forest certification system to limit endorsements of national systems to five years, requiring standards revision before a system can re-apply for endorsement. The revision is required to ensure that latest scientific research and practical experiences from the field, as well as evolving values, expectations, and aspirations of society towards sustainable forest management are systematically implemented at national, regional and local level.