PEFC files complaint against certificate issued to RDLP Bialystok

1 December 2017 News

PEFC notes with concern that the European Court of Justice (ECJ) expresses its doubts concerning the compliance with the Interim Measures, lodged by the ECJ on 20 July 2017 (case C-441/17) as outlined in article 109 of the Provision of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 20 November 2017:

“In this case, without it being necessary to establish at this stage whether, as alleged by the Commission, the Republic of Poland did not respect the Ordinance of the vice-president of the Court dated July 27, 2017, Commission/Poland (C 441/17 R, not published, EU:C:2017:622), it should be noted that the file contains a collection of sufficient evidence to make the Court doubt that the Member State has complied with this Ordinance and that it intends to respect this Ordinance until the judgment on the merits is pronounced."

PEFC requires strict compliance with applicable legislation, as required in PEFC ST 1003:2010, Sustainable Forest Management – Requirements, clause 5.7.1 and 5.7.2, which are implemented in the Polish SFM Standard, PEFC PL 1003, Sustainable forest management – Requirements,  in clause 4.7.1 and 4.7.2.

Furthermore, PEFC has received concerns from various stakeholders on the certification process that resulted in the issuance of the certificate by UDT-CERT to RDLP Bialystok (CSL/722/2017). These concerns relate in particular to:

• Inclusion of stakeholders input in the audit evidence, providing late notice and short timeframes to stakeholders to submit comments.
• Insufficient timeframe for the audit process
• Impartiality of  UDT-CERT as a government body
• Incomplete certificate published

PEFC has therefore requested UDT-CERT to urgently investigate the claims by the ECJ as well as compliance with audit requirements during the certification process.

We urge all stakeholders to submit evidence of potential non-compliances with PEFC requirements directly to UDT-CERT for investigation.