Finnish national FSC standard in place

The standard effective date is 1 May 2011. From this date, assessments and audits of Finnish forest operations will take place against the new FSC standard.

For ten years, representatives from the different stakeholder groups have struggled to to define what good management is in Finland's vast forests – in operational and verifiable terms. The lengthy discussions ended in October last year, when the group finally reached consensus and was able to agree on a standard that all stakeholders could accept. 

"This is a very positive development. The result of very hard and persistent work carried out by the Finnish FSC Working Group is a balanced standard that will enable FSC to grow in Finland. It is good to see that the FSC- International Center has approved it now,” comments Kjell-Owe Ahlskog, NEPCon Certification Coordinator for Finland and Sweden. 

Welcomed by the Finnish forest industry

PEFC is the dominant system in Finland; almost all Finnish forests are PEFC-certified under several regional group schemes. However, FSC certification is increasingly important for Finnish companies in the supply chain, with large market players such as Stora Enso and UPM-Kymmene having FSC chain of custody certification in place to meet buyers' demands. Hence there is demand for FSC-certified raw materials on the Finnish domestic market.

The Finnish Forest Industries Federation applauds the new FSC standard, which it regards as "a workable alternative for forest certification and the verification of sustainability". The Federation recognizes improvements for the private forest owners compared to earlier drafts: "The redrafted standard also takes better consideration of private forest owners. Earlier, the opaque content of the standard prevented the widespread adoption of the FSC system".

Source: Finnish Forest Industries Federation

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Breakthrough for FSC in Finland (13/10 2010)