Friday, 19 September 2014
Revised Group, Multi-site and COC accreditation standards
Three revised standards are now available to download
FSC is pleased to announce the publication of the following three revised normative Chain of Custody (COC) documents:
1. Chain of Custody Certification of Multiple Sites (FSC-STD-40-003 V2-0)
2. Accreditation Standard for Chain of Custody Evaluations (FSC-STD-20-011 V2-0)
3. Development of National Group Chain of Custody Eligibility Criteria (FSC-PRO-40-003 V1-1)
1. Chain of Custody Certification of Multiple Sites (FSC-STD-40-003 V2-0)
The FSC-STD-40-003 standard provides the requirements for the COC certification of multiple sites (e.g. two or more sites or enterprises under the same certificate scope). The revised standard merges the FSC policy for group certification (FSC-POL-40-002) and the FSC standard for multi-site certification (FSC-STD-40-003) into a single document, contributing to the reduction of the number of COC normative documents. We recommend attention to the terminology used in the document, since certification of multiple sites is not the same as “multi-site”. Multi-site and Group are sub-categories of certification with multiple sites.
Summary of main changes:
- The new standard clarifies that, under certain conditions, single COC certificates can also include more than one site.
- The multi-site eligibility criteria was improved in order to avoid separate legal entities without centrally administered and controlled management system to access multi-site certification.
- Improved requirements on the competence and qualification of Certificate Managers and Central Office’s auditors.
- The revised standard provides clear rules on the size and increase on the number of Participating Sites in the scope of the certificate.
- Each Participating Site will be required to use a sub-code on sales documents of FSC certified products. Specific guidance on this will be provided by FSC in the coming weeks.
2. Accreditation Standard for Chain of Custody Evaluations (FSC-STD-20-011 V2-0)
The FSC-STD-20-011 specifies the requirements to be followed by FSC accredited certification bodies to evaluate COC operations.
The main drivers for the revision of COC accreditation requirements were the revision processes of group and multi-site COC (FSC-STD-40-003) and Controlled Wood (FSC-STD-40-005) standards.
Summary of main changes:
- The standard was completely restructured in order to streamline the requirements and eliminate redundancies.
- Improved requirements on Controlled Wood, Multi-site and Group evaluations.
- A new risk based approach for the determination of sampling intensity in group/multi-site evaluations was introduced.
- The Certification Bodies reporting requirements were streamlined.
3. Development of National Group Chain of Custody Eligibility Criteria
In 2010, FSC introduced a procedure for the development of national COC group eligibility criteria, enabling National Offices to adapt the generic eligibility criteria to the national context. In August 2010 FSC published the US specific eligibility criteria for group COC certification. These criteria define which company is considered “small” within the economic context of the United States. To date, the United States is the only country where national eligibility criteria have been approved.
A revised version 1-1 of the procedure is now published together with the revised FSC-STD-40-003 and FSC-STD-20-011.
Summary of main changes:
- The document code was changed from FSC-PRO-40-002 to FSC-PRO-40-003, in order to align with the code of the merged group and multi-site standard FSC-STD-40-003
- The procedure was aligned with the revised wording of FSC-STD-40-003. The wording changes do not affect the material content of the procedure, which remains unchanged.
Effective dates
FSC-STD-40-003 V2-0 and FSC-STD-20-011 V2-0 will become effective on 01 January 2015.
FSC-PRO-40-003 V1-1 will become effective immediately.
Certification bodies are requested to inform their clients and auditors about the changes made. For comments and questions on the revised documents please do not hesitate to contact us.