June 7th, 2024 - FOREST STEWARDSHIP COUNCIL
Over the past nine months, FSC has been making calculated adjustments to its world-class certification system to provide solutions for companies that want to use their FSC certification to support compliance with the EU Regulation on Deforestation-free Products (EUDR).
The work started to align with FSC’s Policy to Address Conversion, which strengthens FSC’s fundamental principles on conversion of natural forests and High Conservation Value areas while providing avenues to remedy and compensate for social and environmental harms caused by past conversion. EUDR accelerated this work and required additional solutions. The package enables alignment with both.
On 5 June 2024, following the recommendation from the Policy and Standards Committee, the FSC International Board of Directors approved the relevant package of normative documents, ready for publication on 1 July.
FSC Aligned for EUDR: The path to approval
To uphold the FSC system’s globally respected standards for sustainable forestry and fierce integrity, the decision process was thoroughly consulted to consider environmental, social, and economic perspectives equally.
In the case of technical matters such as this one, the Policy and Standards Committee (PSC) is actively engaged and either approves the solutions or recommends approval to the Board of Directors, who take decisions at Board Meetings (BM). To further ensure a balanced decision, the final solutions and decisions were further influenced by extensive consultation with interested and affected stakeholder groups.
The approved documents serve as cornerstones for FSC Aligned for EUDR
The approved package of documents includes the new FSC Regulatory Module, the FSC Risk Assessment Framework, and several Advice Notes. They serve the dual purpose of aligning the system with Policy to Address Conversion and serving as cornerstones for FSC Aligned Certification for EUDR, the first set of components to be released as part of the full EUDR solution for companies.
"The FSC system has worked diligently to find a path that supports FSC Certificate Holders compliance obligations and maintains the global benchmark of sustainable forestry worldwide," says Marc Jessel, Chief System Integrity Officer leading FSC's EUDR efforts. "We are pleased with the decision and will continue learning from the market as these offerings move into the implementation phase."
The Early Adopters Programme is currently supporting direct onboarding to FSC Aligned for EUDR through a phased approach. The learnings continue to inform the solutions. From October, the technology tools to help meet EUDR’s traceability and geolocation obligations will be available. These digital tools will also support companies to report on demonstrated the due diligence they have completed on their FSC-certified supply chains.
A commitment to continued investment into regulatory solutions The FSC International Board of Directors also confirmed that supporting business implementation of FSC’s EUDR products will continue to be a global priority for 2025. Currently, FSC International has dedicated a team of 50+ staff to develop solutions that will ease the implementation burden for the thousands of FSC Certificate Holders impacted by the legislation.
As the regulatory landscape evolves, the team will continue amending normative solutions while preventing interruptions to the system. This lays the groundwork for other regulatory offerings from FSC to meet other global regulatory requirements while maintaining the highest standard of sustainable forestry.
Register now: Virtual launch event on 3 July
FSC Aligned for EUDR takes the complexity out of EUDR requirements and provides a robust solution to help certificate holders become compliant on time. Join us on 3 July as we unveil this offering and how it will streamline companies’ compliance journey. Read more here or register below.
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