"Unlimited mixing of FSC and PEFC?
Keurhout provides optimal freedom of action and a practical Chain of Custody"

 

 

 

 

FSC’s controlled wood system admitted to Keurhout-Legal!  

Date: 29-2-2012

Background
Per December 30th 2011 the Keurhout Board of Experts (BoE) has admitted the Controlled Wood system of  the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC-CW) to its Keurhout-Legal System.
The FSC-CW system is a system that has been designed by FSC to assure the availability of sufficient material from non-certified sources for mixing with FSC certified timber in so-called FSC-Mixed sources products, while guaranteeing that this non-certified timber at least complies with a series of minimum requirements considered important by FSC. The minimum requirements imply among others that timber shall not be from illegal sources. Other requirements refer to land/use rights of indigenous or traditional population, threatening of high conservation values, conversion of forest and use of genetically modified organisms. FSC-CW is not considered certified timber; nonetheless a verification system has been developed for it, often comparable to that for verification of FSC certified timber. The verified timber is traced by ASI-accredited certification bodies throughout the supply chain, based on a traditional paper-based CoC and annual field checks. Therefore the system makes use of the regular FSC-CoC standard. As the FSC-CW system verifies, among others, that timber has been legally acquired or produced and sold by a particular forestry or timber company it is relevant to the KH-Legal system, as an alternative source of legal timber.

Admission of FSC-CW
On request of a group of Keurhout participants a validation study of the FSC-CW system was scheduled and started in December 2010. The study was delayed due to an up-coming internal system review by FSC (June 2010) and the subsequent discussions on the system during the FSC General Assembly (July 2011), during which alternatives were discussed to improve the FSC-CW system.,After certain aspects had been clarified, the BoE took the decision to admit FSC-CW to KH-Legal on December 30th 2011.
The validation concerned the entire FSC-CW system, which covers (December, 2011) the legal origin of over 3.11 million ha of forest exploitation, divided over 33 Forest Management Units (FMU’s) under 27 FSC-CW certificates in 12 countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Australia, Vietnam, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Ghana, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo and Latvia). The chain of custody (CoC) comprises 27 certificates. The admission of FSC-CW to the Keurhout-Legal System has a validity of 5 years and concerns all FSC-CW timber.

The admission FSC-CW is
considered essential for the market supply of FSC-mixed timber. In addition it
may be used in KH-Legal products. With the FSC-CW additions the total verified
area covered under Keurhout-Legal amounts to more than 19.5 million ha, whereas
the total admitted number of CoC holders increases to 260 companies. As a
result not only the volume of Keurhout-Legal timber will be increased, but also
the volume of Keurhout-Sustainable timber level 2 (of which up to 30 % may
consist of Keurhout-Legal timber).

Admitted exporting
companies in producer countries may request permission to use the
Keurhout-Legal logo on-product, in line with the procedures as detailed in the
Keurhout-Logo Use Guide.

 

First KH-CoC group certificate acquired!

Date: 15-12-2011

The new KH-CoC Protocol offers the alternative of group certification. Group certification is a favourable option for small companies (up to a maximum of 15 fte). A group consists of a group manager and group members. The costs for certification are limited, as during  the annual audit - comparable to a Multi-site - only the group manager and a sample of group members are assessed..
Soon after the new KH-CoC Protocol became operative per January 1st 2011, group manager Symaco from Lisse started to form a first group. In the course of the year this group of aspirant KH-participants developed to a group of 8 companies and the required audits took place.


On November 25th certification body SGS decided to issue the certificate to the  group manager and the group members. Herewith the first group of KH-CoC certified companies became a fact. The group consists of timber trade companies (HH Schuilenga BV from Surhuisterveen, Bremer’s HH BV from Haarlem, HH Diederen BV from Schinveld, Timersma Hout en Plaat BV from Oudwoude, Meer dan Hout BV from Alphen a/d Rijn) and production companies (Wanpla Kampen BV, Sypla BV from Kampen, Wanpla Productie BV from Kampen).


Further extension of the group with 2 carpentry factories is to be expected in near future.


Interested companies may contact the group manager, Ted Wiegman of Symaco.(info@symaco.nl).

New KH-CoC Protocol approved by TPAC

Date: 30-11-2011

The new Keurhout CoC Protocol (version 4, dd 31/12/2010) has been officially approved by TPAC (the Timber Procurement Assessment Committee of the Dutch Government).
 
Some of the important changes of the Protocol  - as compared to the previous version that was approved by TPAC in 2009 - are:
• extension with an option for group certification
• extension with an option for mixing with recycled wood
• extension with the possibility to issue a Keurhout CoC certificate (by an independent Certification Body)
• extension with additional options for labelling (e.g. to indicate compliance with the requirements of  TPAC)
 
The new version of the Protocol was presented for assessment to TPAC in January 2011. Yesterday the news was received that the KH-CoC had been approved with very high ratings.
 
A very good result, on the basis of which it can be required of the Dutch Government to:
a.  fully acknowledge the KH-CoC and
b.  fully accept the "TPAC-proof" declared input of it as SUSTAINABLE for its procurement.
 
More details can be found in the public summary report of TPAC, on the TPAC website (http://www.tpac.smk.nl/nl/s517/TPAC-home/c413-Documents).