PEFC UK and the Timber Trade Federation (TTF) have hinted at a positive outcome for the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes (PEFC) in the government’s reassessment of certification systems.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), which has just held discussions with four NGOs about the reassessment, will announce its review decision of PEFC, the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) and the Malaysian Timber Certification Council scheme in under two weeks.
In the government’s original assessment last year, the three schemes were classed as evidence of “legal” but not sustainable sourcing by the Central Point of Expertise on Timber. Both SFI and PEFC have recently changed their regulations in a bid to comply.
TTF chief executive John White said he expected a “positive outcome” for PEFC and SFI.
But he said PEFC was likely to be subject to further monitoring to ensure the revisions to its international standards were rolled out to all its national members schemes.
Meanwhile, PEFC UK chairman Len Yull told the group’s AGM that PEFC had now passed the government’s criteria for sustainable forest measurement. He said the information was leaked in a Defra presentation in Germany.
He said a formal announcement had been delayed by Defra’s desire to meet the NGOs, including WWF, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and Forests and the EU Resource Network.
At PEFC UK’s AGM, Mr Yull said the scheme would expand forest management certification and embark on three-year strategic communications project to develop market access for PEFC-certified products.
