PEFC’s robustness confirmed

5 October 2012 News

The Board of Appeal of Stichting Milieukeur (SMK) has rejected an appeal filed by a coalition of NGOs and confirmed that PEFC International conforms to the Dutch Procurement criteria. 

This rejection comes one year after the Dutch Timber Procurement Assessment Committee (TPAC) rejected an objection filed by the NGOs as unsubstantiated, ending an exhaustive four year process that confirmed at every stage that PEFC delivers sustainability as defined in the Dutch criteria.

"We are delighted that the TPAC assessment and the subsequent challenges during the complaints and appeals process have demonstrated and confirmed that our standards are robust and in compliance with Dutch procurement criteria, which are arguably the strictest in the world," said Ben Gunneberg, Secretary General of PEFC International.

Five Dutch civil society organisations filed an objection, and subsequently an appeal,  against the original TPAC judgement, WWF Netherlands (Wereld Natuur Fonds), Greenpeace (Stichting Greenpeace), Netherlands Centre for Indigenous Peoples, NCIV (Stichting Nederlands Centrum voor Inheemse Volken),  the Dutch Interchurch Organisation for Development Cooperation (ICCO), and Friends of the Earth Netherlands (Vereniging Milieudefensie).

The main argument of WWF et al. in the appeals hearing was that the umbrella system of PEFC International offers no guarantees that the underlying national PEFC systems conform to the Dutch Procurement criteria, an argument that was rejected by the Board of Appeals and the appeal lodged by WWF et al was dismissed.

“We welcome the outcome of the complaints and appeals process and appreciate the clarity it provides to stakeholders globally,” said Ben Gunneberg, PEFC International Secretary General. “No other forest certification system ever had to undergo the level of examination and scrutiny that PEFC International and PEFC-endorsed national forest certification were subjected to, and the results confirm that PEFC standards as well as PEFC’s bottom-up approach to certification meet and exceed the high expectations posed on them.”

“While obviously pleased with the outcome, this process put a substantial strain on the resources of PEFC, which is the only global not-for-profit forest certification system, and reduced our ability to expand sustainable forest management to those areas of the globe in greatest need,” emphasized  William Street, Chairman of PEFC. “On the other hand, this thorough investigation demonstrates that the claims that NGOs such as WWF have repeatedly made over the past years about PEFC do not hold water. This should put an end to this decade-long campaign against PEFC, allowing us to work cooperatively for the common good of the world's forests.”

“We hope with this issue behind us that our invitation to these stakeholders to become involved in our work will result in enhanced cooperation. PEFC provides numerous opportunities for interested parties to get involved at both national and international level, and we welcome collaborative approaches to engagement towards our mutually shared objective of safeguarding the world’s forest,” reiterated Mr Gunneberg.

TPAC was set up by in 2007 to assess certification systems for sustainable forest management against the Dutch Procurement Criteria for Timber within the context of the Dutch Public Procurement Policy. It assessed PEFC as conforming to the Dutch Procurement Criteria for the Dutch market in 2010. Out of eighteen principles, PEFC achieved a score of 2 (the highest score) for fifteen principles and a score of 1 for three principles.

The objections of the NGOs, originally filed in 2010, concerned various aspects of the PEFC certification system, including the protection of biodiversity and the participation of indigenous peoples. TPAC, after careful consideration of the objections filed, found that “[…] it has thoroughly assessed PEFC International […]” and concluded that “[…] there are no grounds for revising its positive judgment of PEFC International for the Dutch market.” TPAC noted that “PEFC General Assembly [in November 2010] adopted a new meta-standard for sustainable forest management, thereby further improving the international system.”