Revised FSC Chain of Custody Directive: key changes

The aim of the revision is to secure alignment of the FSC system with the EU timber Regulation (see separate article on this topic). Despite their name, advice notes are normative and shall be met by all FSC certified operations.

Each of the three new advice notes involves new CoC requirements:

Non-conforming products (ADVICE 40-004-08)

Non-conforming products are products that have been labelled or sold with FSC claim which do not fulfil the requirements.

• As of 1 November 2012, a documented procedure for handling non-conforming products needs to be included in FSC certificate holders’ chain of custody system.
• Certificate holders are also required to: a) immediately cease to sell any non-conforming products held in stock; b) identify and advise all relevant customers within three business days, and maintain records of that advice; c) analyse causes for occurrence of non-conforming products and implement measures to prevent its re-occurrence; d) notify their certification body; and e) collaborate with the certification body who needs to verify actions to address the non-compliance.

The new rule addresses an important gap in the FSC system. What happens in cases where non-conforming products has been labelled and/or sold with FSC claim – either intentionally or by a mistake?

Minor components (ADVICE-40-004-09)

The current version of FSC Chain of Custody standard allows up to 1% (in special justified cases up to 5%) non-certified material in FSC certified products. This has permitted non-certified components such as dowels and coating paper to be used in FSC products. The minor components exemption was scheduled to be phased out by the end of 2012.

The complete phase-out of minor non-certified components in FSC products is postponed until 31 December 2015.

• From 1 January 2013, all products containing minor components need to carry the following claim on invoices and delivery notes: “This product contains “x” of minor components”, where “x” is the quantity in volume, weight or percentage of minor components. The claim is mandatory also for semi-finished products containing minor components below the 1 % threshold.
• From 1 January 2013, certificate holders based in regulated markets (such as the EU, the US and Australia) may no longer place products containing minor components on those markets, unless the specific products are exempt from the applicable legislation. Learn more below.

On 1 November 2011, FSC requested certification bodies to inform certificate holders that the use of minor non-certified components in FSC products would be completely phased out by end-2012. Parts of the industry took action in order to meet the new conditions, and several suppliers of minor components have become certified in anticipation of this fast approaching deadline.

With the publication of the directive, FSC has effectively pushed back the phase-out of the minor components exemption until the end of 2015 for the majority of companies using it.

From 1 January 2013, the use of minor components is excluded only for organisations placing FSC products on regulated markets such as the EU, US and Australia - and then only if the products are covered by regulations applicable in the specific market.

Importantly, ’placing on the market’ means “the supply […] of timber or timber products for the first time on the internal market for distribution or use in the course of a commercial activity [..]”. The advice note also specifies that “The supply on the internal market of timber products derived from timber or timber products already placed on the internal market shall not constitute ‘placing on the market’”. Thus, certificate holders buying minor components from a supplier located inside the same market can thus continue as before.

For example, an FSC certified furniture manufacturer located in an EU country may continue to buy non-certified dowels from a supplier located in the same or another EU country and use them as minor components in the manufacture of FSC certified furniture.

Access to information (ADVICE-40-004-10)

• As of 1 November 2012, FSC suppliers are obliged to provide information about species and origin of FSC certified products upon request from their buyers. If such information is not available, the supplier needs to forward the request further up the supply chain.