PEFC is looking for your opinion on standard setting

27 March 2017 Standard Setting

This standard contains the rules that national standardizing bodies have to follow when they develop and revise their sustainable forest management standards. Core principles of the standard development are stakeholder engagement, balance representation of different interests, consensus building, continuous improvement and transparency.

Give your feedback now! Deadline for comments is 29 May 2017.

Improving the standard

The revised document introduces many improvements in document structure and clarity. More importantly, it introduces critical improvements to the standard setting process itself, including:

• Inclusion of the nine major stakeholder groups of Agenda 21 (UNCED)
• Increased effort to get key stakeholders around the table
• Additional rounds of public consultation

By far the biggest change is the further detailing of the periodic review…

Standards need to be reviewed five years after their approval. While this is not a new requirement, the standard now specifies the exact steps of such a review: recording feedback on the standard during its application, performing a gap analysis at the start of the review, and organizing stakeholder consultation. 

Also new is the option of reaffirming an existing standard. When the review shows that the standard meets all current (stakeholder) needs, a revision would not be required and the standard can be reaffirmed.

Public consultations

This public consultation is the first one in a series of upcoming consultation as the PEFC Standards Revision process moves into its next phase. Over the next months, enquiry draft versions for all the standards under revision will be ready for public consultations. Stay tuned!

This consultation is open from 27 March until 29 May 2017. Comments need to be submitted through our online consultation tool. Access the consultation of PEFC ST 1001:201X.