German system and Malaysian Forest Plantation Standard achieve PEFC re-endorsement

13 June 2016 PEFC system news

Germany has become the second country to successfully achieve PEFC re-endorsement of its national forest certification system for a third time. The Malaysian Criteria and Indicators (MC&I) for Forest Plantations standard has also received PEFC re-endorsement.

This endorsement not only confirms that they continue to meet PEFC’s globally recognized Sustainability Benchmarks, but also ensures that certified forest owners and companies in these countries continue to benefit from the global acceptance of PEFC.

Germany was one of the first countries to achieve the PEFC endorsement of its national system back in 2000, and joins Finland as the only other country to gain re-endorsement for a record third time. There are now nearly 7.4 million hectares of PEFC-certified forests in the country, equivalent to two thirds of the whole German forest area, including all state-owned forests.

The Malaysian Criteria and Indicators (MC&I) for Forest Plantations is a complementary standard to the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme (MTCS), which includes the MC&I for Natural Forests. The endorsement of this second edition of the MC&I for Forest Plantations, which is designed to assess the management practices for, and enable the certification of, forest plantations, follows the re-endorsement of the MTCS in 2014.

“These re-endorsements show both the commitment of our members and underlines PEFC's leadership in the continuous improvement of forest certification," said Ben Gunneberg, CEO of PEFC International. “We appreciate their continued commitment, as well as the contributions of all the stakeholders 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 revision of the standards before a system can re-apply for endorsement. Endorsement is only granted after a comprehensive, third-party assessment of compliance with PEFC’s Sustainability Benchmarks.

Revisions are required to ensure that latest scientific research, practical experiences and best practices from the field, but also evolving values, expectations, and aspirations of society towards sustainable forest management are systematically incorporated in these revisions and then implemented at national, regional and local level.