Annual fees levied by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) on timber company chain of custody certificate holders are soaring by up to 400%.

The scale and timing of the increase on the brink of a recession have angered some companies, but FSC says the move will raise €3.5-4m for furthering the organisation’s work and providing additional services.

FSC also says its trademark will prove increasingly important to companies trying to differentiate themselves in the current difficult market conditions.

The accreditation administration fee increase is on a sliding scale based on turnover, with the largest companies incurring the biggest hike.

One UK trader said its bill had grown from about £500 to several thousand pounds, which it described as “madness”, especially given the economic climate. It advocated a gradual fee increase instead.

Smaller companies will generally see fees rise by a few hundred pounds.

FSC Global Development managing director Liza Murphy hinted at some resistance from certificate holders to the increase but said the fee had not been increased in more than five years, during which time the FSC certification concept had proved successful, with increasing participation and market recognition.

She said FSC’s ability to raise funds from traditional fundraising channels has decreased at the same time as demand for its services had increased.

“The percentage increase is significant in some areas but the effective rate of the fees is still extremely low.”

She said FSC now needed to increase its resources at the Bonn head office to do more for its 13,000 certificate holders.

Expanded services will include a dedicated service for all users of the trademark, to be piloted in July, as well as new tools and training for certificate holders’ sales staff.

The admin fee change is the first phase of a multi-year effort to reform FSC fees and services and comes at a time when the organisation is taking on more of a business model viewing certificate holders as “customers” and members as “shareholders”.

A licensing programme with new fee structures for new customers will be piloted in the second half of 2009.

Certifier BM TRADA Certification Ltd, which collects fees for FSC, warned clients before Christmas about fee increases and admitted that there had been some “interesting phone calls”.

BM TRADA Certification business development executive Alasdair McGregor said the organisation was sympathetic to clients and that the timing was “unfortunate.”