NEPCon expands in Western Europe
As of 1st of July 2009, NEPCon is taking over the management of the Rainforest Alliance’s SmartWood forestry program in all of Europe as well as Russia, Israel and Turkey.
This change in service structure takes place in response to continued growth in forestry and wood industry certification, and the corresponding need for streamlined and efficient services.
New opportunities
"Demands for FSC certification and related services are growing fast even in the face of the global credit crunch. FSC chain of custody certification grew by 10% worldwide during the first quarter of this year – and in some European countries such as Spain, Italy and France the figure is more than 15%”, says Peter Feilberg, CEO of NEPCon.
"Our goal is to provide excellent services that help our European clients to meet all current demands on the global market. To meet this goal, we will enhance the administration efficiency for FSC certified clients as well as further develop additional services such as legality and carbon forestry verification. We will also be focusing more on local language service provision, business linkage and communication services. Overall, this structural change allows NEPCon and the Rainforest Alliance to improve our wood industry services in a well-coordinated fashion”.
Added value for certified companies
"We are also looking into ways of providing added value for FSC/Rainforest Alliance certified wood industries", says Feilberg. "As partners of the Rainforest Alliance, we can offer FSC-certified companies access to use the exclusive Rainforest Alliance Certified Seal in conjunction with the FSC logo".
The Rainforest Alliance Certified seal has been successfully established as a global quality signature for credible certification of responsible land management. Companies such as McDonald’s, Chiquita, Kraft Foods and Unilever with the Lipton Tea brand have chosen to work with the Rainforest Alliance in recognition of the positive impact of the organization’s certification work around the world.
Western Europe: Same team, better service
FSC/ Rainforest Alliance certified companies based in Western Europe will henceforth be serviced by NEPCon and benefit from the extended service portfolio as well as enhanced focus on communication services and local-language service delivery. At the same time, the companies will maintain their existing certification and continue working with the same team as before.
As part of the improved service structure, the following key persons will be making the transition from the Rainforest Alliance to NEPCon: David Hadley Garcia, Leticia Calvo Vialettes, Mateo Cariño Fraisse and Maria Rodriguez Gismero.
The transition started already in February this year, when NEPCon took over the management of the Rainforest Alliance forestry program portfolio in 14 European countries. All FSC certificates held by NEPCon's clients will continue to be issued and maintained by the Rainforest Alliance, NEPCon's FSC-accredited partner.
Data included in this article were provided by FSC-Denmark.
