Online traceability system may boost FSC’s integrity
FSC plans to take a huge stride towards enhanced integrity and elimination of fraud with this project. Credibility enhancement measures often involve new restrictions or procedures, which are generally not popular among the industry. But certificate holders are welcoming this initiative, expecting important benefits rather than burdens from it.
At a well-attended side event on Monday, plans to establish an online platform for tracking of timber products were discussed. This major initiative could be crucial for maintaining the integrity of FSC.
If you haven’t heard much about timber product tracking before, rest assured that you will hear more about it in the future.
The importance of this issue is widely recognised, and FSC has launched a major project to develop a streamlined solution. Introducing the side event, FSC’s Executive Director André de Freitas referred to traceability as the biggest priority for FSC for the next five years.
Quick discovery of fraud
Phil Guillery, FSC Systems Integrity Director, outlined the anticipated system - an online platform that allows efficient tracking of timber product transactions.
“Currently, certificate holders are responsible for each node in the supply chain, but we have no system to trace material through the whole supply chain. And we are drawing closer to a tipping point: more questions of fraud are going to occur – this is an inevitable consequence of having grown from a handful of certificates to thousands”.
According to Mr. Guillery, the new system will form an efficient barrier for fraudsters. Attempts at fraud will be easy to discover, enabling FSC, Accreditation Services International (ASI) – the company managing the FSC accreditation programme – and certification bodies to crack down on such cases almost instantaneously.
“Consumers expect us to handle this quickly and efficiently. In addition, the EU Timber Regulation presupposes that products can be traced and timber labelling schemes are expected to fulfil those requirements”.
User interface is important
“We’re looking to build a system that will provide benefits to our stakeholders. For example, we may be able to simplify some certification requirements”, said Mr. Guillery. “For example, the purchsase and sales registrations currently required for both buyer and seller will be reduced to single transaction record in the new system”.
“We hope to reduce rather than increase the total costs for our users by introducing this tool. The system has to change before it breaks. But we can’t afford to break the system while making the change”.
FSC is developing the platform in partnership with Historic Futures, a leading company on supply chain traceability.
Certificate holders: “It can revolutionise how we operate"
The certificate holders present at the meeting mainly expressed enthusiasm for the plans. They envisaged a whole string of benefits, such as enhanced efficiency and related resources savings; improved transparency and credibility; and better market statistics.
During discussions, some tecnical issues were raised: how can the system handle ‘FSC credit’ products that may originate in multiple sources? What about enterprises who don’t use computers or the internet? What about data security?
CEO of NEPCon Peter Feilberg raised the question of whether the online tool might cover other timber assurance schemes used by the industry, such as PEFC, timber legality verification schemes, FLEGT licenses, and so on. “It will be a nightmare for the companies if they end up having to use a number of traceability systems”, he pointed out.
Aside from the data security, which according to Historic Futures is already fully secured in the system, the development team acknowledged the validity of the points raised and said they would explore them further.
