Editoral - Wednesday 5 November 2008
Editorial by Søren Dürr Grue, NEPCon While respecting core ILO conventions is mandatory in FSC forest certification, no such requirements are present in the chain of custody rules applying to the rest of the supply chain.
This leaves the consumer with the paradoxical risk of buying an FSC certified product from forestry having high social standards, which might still have been produced under grossly irresponsible conditions further down the chain. At the moment, no even basic procedures or rules exist to prevent for example the use of child labor among FSC chain of custody certificate holders.
As FSC certification starts to grow in developing countries with an increased risk of such situations, it is becoming increasingly evident that the FSC system should set a limit and prevent worst-case practices also among chain of custody certified companies, ultimately protecting companies from potential law suits down the road. This is the right time for FSC to start developing some mechanism for dealing with this issue.
