Türkiye, Lithuania, and Croatia achieve PEFC endorsement

30 May 2025 Organisation news

The PEFC Alliance has officially endorsed the national forest certification systems of Türkiye and Lithuania, as well as the national standard of Croatia.

This milestone opens the door for PEFC-certified forests in all three countries.

“The PEFC forest certification system in Lithuania will allow forest owners and the timber industry to choose another approach of sustainable forest management, especially for small forest owners,” said Alfredas Galauné, National Secretary of the Center of Sustainable Forest Management, our national member for Lithuania.

“We are very happy to have a PEFC-endorsed forest management system,” said Göksel Korkmaz, National Secretary of SOYDER/PEFC Türkiye.

“The PEFC label will facilitate the introduction and marketing of our forest-based products, both domestically and internationally, and will enable our exporters to reach new markets.”

A regional approach for greater impact 

Croatia’s newly endorsed standard will become part of the Balkan Regional System, which provides a harmonised framework for the national forest management standards in the Western Balkans. 

Beside Croatia, our members for Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, and Slovenia are part of the system.

Developing a regional system enables our members to maximise their impact and reach, share resources and knowledge, and reduce costs.

“The most important benefit for Croatian forestry is that PEFC has allowed small forest owners to obtain certification and sell certified timber on the market,” said Miljenko Županić, General Secretary of the Croatian Union of Private Forest Owners Associations our national member for Croatia.

“In Croatia, we already manage our forests in a sustainable way, mostly close to nature, so it is a great achievement for us to receive confirmation of this kind of management.”

System development with local expertise

National systems are developed locally and need to undergo third-party assessment to ensure consistency with international requirements.

“I want to express my thankfulness to all 15 members of working group. They worked very disciplined and systematically on the proposed draft, especially on criterions and indicators which are the core of the standard,” said Alfredas Galauné.

Bringing certification to life

After the endorsement, the focus now shifts to implementation. Practical steps include implementing group certification and raising awareness about PEFC.

“The next step will be to create a platform for group certification and encourage small forest owners to use it,” Alfredas explained.

“The next steps will be negotiations with accreditation bodies to be as efficient as possible and to enable certification as soon as possible,” Miljenko shared.

“And of course, we need to do a lot of work to promote PEFC in Croatia, as it is still not very well known here.”