Work begins for Standards Revision Working Groups

4 May 2016 Standard Setting

Following a fantastic response to our call for nominations, four Standards Revision Working Groups (WGs) are now established and already at work.

The four WGs are:

• WG 1: Sustainable Forest Management Standard (33 members)
• WG 2: Forest Management Certification Procedures and Group Certification (21 members)
• WG 3: Standard Setting Procedures (12 members)
• WG 6: Endorsement Process (11 members)

The criteria for selecting WG members took into account their stakeholder category, regional representation, organizational link, individual competence, and experience and competence linked to the WG scope/the standards under revision.

Now established, the WGs will each meet 2-4 times to build consensus on the creation of an enquiry draft standard. This draft will then go through several subsequent phases before approval and publication.

Upcoming dates

The first meeting for WG 3 took place in Geneva on 14 and 15 April. The other three WGs will meet within the next month:

• WG 1: 09-11 May 2016
• WG 2: 12-13 May 2016
• WG 6: 01-02 June 2016

Another call for nominations will be announced next week for the remaining two WGs:

• WG 4: Chain of Custody and Labelling (limited call)
• WG 5: Chain of Custody Certification Procedures

Get involved!

Being part of a Working Group is just one way for stakeholders to get involved in our standards revision process. Please take a look at the range of options below to see how you can take part and help us make the best even better!

Expert Forum

The deliberations of the Working Groups will be informed by two online Expert Forums for Sustainable Forest Management and for Chain of Custody. People with expertise in these two areas can apply for membership. PEFC will provide recent working results from the WGs to the forum for further discussion. It is expected that members actively participate in online discussions.

You can register for the Export Forum on Sustainable Forest Management - find out more and register!

Stakeholder Conference

In spring 2017, we will organize 2-3 Stakeholder Conferences in different geographic regions. These conferences will enable all interested people to discuss the revision work face-to-face and provide input.

Public Consultation

Global Public Consultations will allow stakeholders anywhere in the world to provide input into the Enquiry Drafts of the standard, for a minimum period of 60 days. The comments will be considered by the WG as input for the development of the Final Draft Version. Each stakeholder participating in the consultation will get an answer to their comment.

Revision Newsletter

We have created a new Standards Revision Newsletter with specific information about the revision process.