Wednesday, 10 December 2014
Consultation on the general requirements for FSC-accredited certification bodies FSC-STD-20-001
© FSC UKFSC is inviting stakeholders to provide consultation feedback on the first revised standard draft FSC-STD-20-001.
The draft document is available for download below.
Please provide your comments using the comment form and send them to Dorothee Jung at d.jung at fsc point org
The deadline for comments is 09 February 2015.
Main changes
The main changes introduced by the revised general accreditation standard (FSC-STD-20-001) are as follows:
- Strategic approach: Following the decision of the FSC Board in 2013 to formally de-link FSC standards from ISO standards, certification bodies will only be required to conform to the FSC standard without having to additionally conform to the separate ISO 17065 standard.
- To ensure conformity with the ISEAL Assurance Code, ISO 17065 requirements were included in the revised draft, as ISEAL demands that FSC requirements conform to or are equivalent to ISO 17065 or ISO 17021. For more information, please see page 4 of the draft document.
- Structure: The structure of the document was amended to simplify comprehension, grouping the requirements into the following four parts: general requirements, general management system requirements, resource requirements and process requirements. Two annexes were integrated in the main body of the standard, to eliminate redundancies. Cross-reference tables between the “old” and “new” standard are available upon request.
- The existing advice notes and several standard interpretations were incorporated in the revised draft, to reduce the number of relevant documents and provide required clarification directly in the standard.
- Terms and definitions: The terms and definitions section includes several new and revised definitions of key terms such as subcontractor, conflict of interest and consultancy. New terms were added to e.g. clarify the different functions of certification body personnel engaged in the certification process.
- Impartiality: The requirements were clarified and strengthened using ISO 17065 and ISO 17021 as reference. Stakeholders are consulted on the option to deviate from ISO standards by allowing certification body consultancy for small low intensity managed forests (SLIMFs) and on the option of engaging ASI to operate an Impartiality Committee for all certification bodies.
- Complaints and appeals: The requirements were clarified and strengthened using ISO 17065 as reference and based on input of Thomas Colonna, FSC Dispute Resolution Manager.
- Management system: The requirements for the certification body management system were strengthened following the example of ISO 17065.
- Certification body personnel: The requirements for auditors and lead auditors were complemented, focussing not only on requirements for qualification, but also competences of auditors, initial and ongoing training and performance reviews. A FSC competency scheme was developed, see Annex 1. Further amendments may be necessary to implement Motion 52 on training and qualification requirements for FSC audit teams, e.g. concerning the development of an auditor registry and training curricula. The aim is to incorporate Motion 52 in the second draft standard.
- Subcontracting: The requirements apply to subcontracted separate legal entities, including sister companies, subsidiaries and any companies linked by ownership to the certification body. The intent is to ensure that all certification services, whether subcontracted or not, achieve the same level of rigor and consistency.
- Motion 66 on auditor rotation was implemented, see clause 4.3.7 on page 39. Criteria for allowing exemptions as specified in the Motion still need to be developed. As an alternative option it is proposed to extend the application of the Motion to all types of audits (not only to Forest Management audits).
- Non-conformities: Requirements for handling nonconformities were copied from the scope specific chain of custody accreditation standard FSC-STD-20-011 to the revised draft, to harmonise requirements and be applicable generically.