Update on our situation in Russia

Note: On 17 November 2017 ASI announced the reversal of the suspension decision of NEPCon’s FSC accreditation in Russia. This is followed by the SBP announcement on 20 November 2017 that the SBP suspension, as a consequence of the FSC suspension, is deleted from the records. Read more here. 

What does this mean?

In Russia: During the SBP suspension in Russia, we can continue to conduct annual SBP audits and re-assessments of all organisations that have already been certified by us in Russia. However, we may not enter into new contracts for SBP certification in Russia while suspended.

In other countries: Our SBP certification in other countries will continue as normal, including taking on new SBP clients.

Why did this happen?

This SBP suspension in Russia is not a result of any identified or reported problems with our auditing practices nor their quality.

SBP approval requires an active accreditation to either FSC or PEFC. Since our SBP approval is reliant on our FSC accreditation status, this decision by SBP is a direct repercussion of the FSC suspension in Russia.

As soon as the FSC suspension in Russia is lifted, our SBP approval should be reinstated.

The FSC accreditation body, ASI, is in the process of evaluating our response to the conditions they set to lift the FSC suspension in Russia.

Further information

For more information on our FSC suspension in Russia, and our progress in resolving the matter please see this FAQ page which we are updating periodically.

If you have any questions regarding these matters, please do not hesitate to contact your NEPCon contact person or your local NEPCon offices. We will update our website with any further important developments.

Updated on 24 April 2017: The SBP suspension was lifted on 21 April 2017. Read the SBP’s notification.