Give your feedback on ST 1004: certification body requirements for sustainable forest management

18 July 2023 PEFC system news

PEFC invites stakeholders globally to give their feedback on the second draft of ST 1004, Requirements for Certification Bodies operating Certification against PEFC Endorsed Forest Management Standards.

This is the second public consultation for this vital benchmark standard, with the first consultation concluding earlier this year in January. 

The working group developing the document discussed the feedback received during the first consultation and revised the draft standard accordingly. Thank you to everyone that gave their feedback during the first consultation, we have tried to address all the comments in this new draft. 

Now we need to hear from you again. Give your comments, feedback, and suggestions, to help us ensure this standard meets your needs and expectations. 

To submit your comments, please fill in this form – you will immediately receive a link to the document and instructions on how to give your feedback.

The deadline for comments is 5 September 2023.

The standard

ST 1004 sets the requirements for certification bodies carrying out PEFC forest management certification. With this new standard, we are harmonizing the requirements for certification bodies, ensuring consistency in the implementation of PEFC sustainable forest management certification worldwide. 

It is the first of its kind: a hybrid between a Benchmark and International standard. It includes benchmark requirements to be further developed at national level by national members, and requirements that certification bodies shall implement directly. Doing so, we ensure consistency and harmonisation in implementation, while at the same time enabling adaptation to local conditions. 

Fill in the form to give your feedback.

Changes made to the second draft

The body text is now entirely based on ISO/IEC 17021, with any reference to potential forest certification systems based on ISO/IEC 17065 moved to an appendix. This was done to ease the reading and to highlight that PEFC considers forest certification to be management certification, although the PEFC International Board may accept, in some cases, systems that are based on ISO/IEC 17065. 

The standard includes a chapter on remote audits based on learnings gained during the Covid 19 pandemic and what technological developments allow us to do and how they can improve certification processes. 

It also includes a section on stakeholder engagement, which is vital for the implementation of the PEFC requirements. The working group looked to develop requirements that balance the need to ensure that stakeholders are engaged, while not creating additional burdens to the certification process. 

Additionally, the standard also includes training requirements and will be followed by the development of a training programme for sustainable forest management. 

We look forward to hearing how you perceive these new requirements and how they respond to your needs. Every comment made will get an answer.

Fill in the form to give your feedback.

Find out more

To provide you with more information on this new standard, there will be an informative webinar later in August to cover some of the key details of this latest draft. In particular, we’ll be explaining what has been changed and developed since the first consultation earlier this year – changes that have been made thanks to the extensive feedback we received during that first consultation.

All webinars will be 1.5 hours and will include an open questions and answers session. Please note, you only need to register for one webinar.