Chain of custody management company Independent Forestry has had its Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) group forest management scheme suspended by its certification body, the Soil Association’s Woodmark.
Kevin Jones, a Woodmark manager, said: “The certificate was suspended on September 26, but it may be reinstated subject to satisfactory evidence being submitted to the group manager.”
He said the reason for the suspension was failure to close out a corrective action originally issued in May 2004 relating to the need for the group to demonstrate commitment to the FSC principles/UKWAS standard.
He added: “It is the group manager’s responsibility to advise all members of the status of the certificate. At the time of the first surveillance in November 2004 there were 216 members accounting for a forest area of 76,232ha.”
Independent Forestry managing director David Ogg said the reason the certificate was suspended was because the word UKWAS – UK Woodland Assurance Scheme – had been left off the declarations of intent of 43 of his 360 members.
He added: “There is no requirement in the FSC rules that statements of intent should make reference to UKWAS and I think this is a gross overreaction by the Soil Association.
“If my forest management group goes down it will destroy the chain for every single business in the UK.”
