There is still time to give your feedback on PEFC Group Certification!

2 February 2018 PEFC system news

With the deadline of 18 February fast approaching, make sure you do not miss your opportunity to give your feedback on our revised Group Certification standard.

Take part in the public consultation!

Need to know more about the revised standard before you give your feedback? Then make sure you register for one of our upcoming webinars.

Taking place Monday 5 and Wednesday 7 February, these webinars will introduce and explain the main proposed changes to this standard. There will also be an open question and answer session – make sure you register now so you don’t miss out.

What is group certification?

Group certification is a mechanism through which groups of small-forest landholders can organize themselves, pool their resources and work together to achieve certification. This makes certification accessible for small-forest owners.

The key to successful group certification is to balance the need for robust implementation of our requirements with the need to be as resource efficient as possible.

What has changed?

Group certification works through a combination of internal and external auditing. As not every smallholder is audited, costs are substantially lower, helping make certification accessible. However, this means that internal auditing must work flawlessly.

The revised standard will provide an innovative framework for internal monitoring and auditing in certified groups with a chapter on ‘performance evaluation’. This will include improved requirements for internal auditing, such as risk based sampling groups and minimum sample size, as well as strengthening the management system of the group itself.

By strengthening the internal auditing process, we can be even more assured that all forest owners within a group are managing their forests in line with the requirements and small-forest owners can continue to benefit from affordable certification.

Public consultations

This public consultation is one in a series of upcoming consultations as the PEFC Standards Revision process moves into its next phase. Over the next months, enquiry draft versions for several of the standards under revision will be ready for public consultations. Stay tuned!

This consultation is open until 18 February 2018. Please submit your comments through our online consultation tool.

Get involved!

• Register for the webinar
• Take part in the consultation – you have until 18 February 2018
• Keep up-to-date on the revision of our standards with the Standards Revision website