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As soon as the complete information set has been received, the Board of Experts (BoE) will take the application into consideration within 8 weeks. If there is cause for such, the BoE can always ask for additional information (e.g. management plans, information relating to local legislation and regulations, additional statements of certification bodies (CBs) or stakeholders, information relating to the accreditation status of the CB).

In order to guarantee a systematic, consistent and objective approach, the evaluations for the Keurhout Protocol are executed on the basis of extensive checklists (see further). The evaluation will take account of location-specific conditions. These encompass, e.g., the condition of the forest, the location and size of the forest management unit (FMU), the state of affairs relating to concession rights, the various functions of the forest in the framework of national land use planning and the relevant national legislation and regulations. This means that the importance of various indicators depends on the various location-specific conditions for which the certificate has been issued or within which a system works.

After evaluation of the certificates (and underlying documentation) or systems the BoE will make a decision on the admission of the relevant forest unit and/or CoC components in the production country or the certification system  to the legal or sustainable Keurhout system. In the event of a system evaluation, a decision will be made on admitting the system to the KH-Sustainable system or the KH-Legal system.
In the event of a positive result the BoE issues an Acceptance Decision and a public summary of the Review Report (Validation Report) will be published via the Keurhout website. The details of the relevant forest units/CoCs are also presented there. In the event of a negative result, only the applicant parties will be informed and there will be no publication on the Keurhout website.
If a limited number of minor bottlenecks have been noted, the BoE can establish “Keurhout conditions”. These conditions are primarily intended to promote further improvement of the management or system, in line with the requirements stated in the Keurhout Protocols. On the basis of a number of clearly defined milestones, to be realised within a specified term of a maximum of 5 years, a “Keurhout procedure” will be established in consultation with the CB and the producer and/or system manager. The CB will then review the progress during its annual audits and will report thereon in the audit report, or in a side letter. If an audit report shows that the stipulated conditions are not satisfied within the agreed term, this will lead to an immediate cessation of the admission to the specific Keurhout system.

The BoE has an objections procedure for the event that interested parties do not agree with a decision of the BoE to admit or reject. A copy of the procedure can be requested at the Secretariat of the Keurhout Management Authority.