We explain the changes to our group certification standard

8 January 2018 Group Certification

Do you want to give your feedback as we revise our standard for group certification? But feel like you need more information on how the standard is changing? Then make sure you register for our upcoming webinars!

Taking place Monday 5 and Wednesday 7 February, these webinars will introduce and explain the main proposed changes to PEFC ST 1002 – the standard that defines the general requirements for forest certification systems with group forest management certification.

There will also be an open question and answer session – make sure you register now so you don’t miss out.

Two webinars on offer

We’re holding the webinar twice, at two different times, to ensure everybody around the world can take part:

• Monday 5 February, 4:00 - 5:00 PM (CET)
• Wednesday 7 February, 9:00 - 10:00 AM (CET)

Participation is limited to 100 participants per webinar, so be quick to reserve your place. However, if you can’t join, we will publish a recording on our standards revision website for later playback.

What is group certification?

Group certification is a mechanism through which groups of small-forest landholders can organize themselves, pool their resources and work together to achieve certification. This makes certification accessible for small-forest owners.

The key to successful group certification is to balance the need for robust implementation of our requirements with the need to be as resource efficient as possible.

What has changed?

Group certification works through a combination of internal and external auditing. As not every smallholder is audited, costs are substantially lower, helping make certification accessible. However, this means that internal auditing must work flawlessly.

The revised standard will provide an innovative framework for internal monitoring and auditing in certified groups with a chapter on ‘performance evaluation’. This will include improved requirements for internal auditing, such as risk based sampling groups and minimum sample size, as well as strengthening the management system of the group itself.

By strengthening the internal auditing process, we can be even more assured that all forest owners within a group are managing their forests in line with the requirements and small-forest owners can continue to benefit from affordable certification.