New Derogation Published on the Evaluation of Contractors against the FSC Core Labour Requirements
On the 16th February 2024, FSC International (PSU) released a derogation relating to the implementation of Evaluation of Contractors against the FSC Core Labour Requirements. This derogation comes after various stakeholder concerns about two advice notes on the Evaluation of Contractors against the FSC Core Labour Requirements, FSC-ADVICE-40-004-23 V1-0 and FSC-ADVICE-20-011-16 V1-0 . In response to these concerns, PSU plans to revise the advice notes. To provide an immediate normative reference, this derogation is provided to waive requirements for certification bodies (and certificate holders) to comply with sections 2 to 5. This will be valid until the effective dates of the revised advice notes.
As section 1 of the advice notes remains effective for certificate holders, certification bodies are required to evaluate contractors using the information provided in the self-assessment, following the general provisions in clause 11.3 of FSC-STD-20-011 V4-2 Chain of Custody Evaluations. For more information, please see attached information sheet and derogation.
DER-2024-002_Evaluation of Contractors against the FSC Core Labour RequirementsInfosheet – Upcoming Consultation on Revision of Advice Notes – Evaluation of contractors against the FSC core labour requirements
Revision of Advice Notes: New consultation
Following on from the now published Derogation on the Evaluation of Contractors against the FSC Core Labour Requirements, PSU would like to make certification bodies aware of an upcoming consultation on the revision of Advice Notes (FSC-ADVICE-40-004-23 and FSC- ADVICE-20-011-16) on Evaluation of contractors against the FSC core labour requirements. This revision follows an accelerated revision process as described in FSC-PRO-01-001 The Development and Revision of FSC Requirements.
The consultation will be open to the public on the FSC consultation platform for 15 days, from 01 March 2024 until 15 March 2024. It will be available in English only, but comments may be provided in any FSC official language. For more details, please see the information sheet attached.
This is certificate holders’ opportunity to have input and feedback to an Advice Note that places a lot of extra burden and cost on certificate holders. Please have your say!
Click here to access the consultation.Information on Derogation – Evaluation of contractors against the FSC core labour requirements
New Interpretation relation to provision of information relating to business turnover for purpose of AAF calculation
FSC has released a new interpretation INT-POL-20-005_02, that provides certification bodies with the normative reference for issuing Corrective Action Requests (non-conformity) to certificate holders that do not provide forest products turnover (FPT)/Revenue information or it can’t be verified. This is in breach of the certification contract and now certification bodies can issue a non-conformity. Attached is the relevant Interpretation document that also contains some other useful questions relating to the AAF.
FSC-Interpretations-AAF_2023.09.28(for Q1 2024)
Please contact Emily Silberberg for all FSC Program enquiries on email at:
