The draft Finnish Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standard is currently being circulated in a stakeholder consultation exercise.
The plan is to approve the standard at a meeting on April 18 before being sent to FSC international for approval.
Various bids have been made to introduce FSC certification into Finland during the past 15 years and the current initiative was started in August 2007.
Consisting of a series of criteria and indicators, the draft was developed by a steering group which included representatives of the Finnish FSC Association and the Finnish forest industry. Family forest owner organisation MTK has not participated.
The draft differs from the Finnish PEFC standard on several points, including different conditions depending on who owns the forest, with stricter conditions set for state and municipalities.
