Why we revise our standards

The revision of our technical documentation is at the heart of our work. This involves the whole PEFC alliance, hundreds of experts, and thousands of stakeholders.

By reviewing our standards, we can ensure that they incorporate latest scientific research, practical experiences and best practices from the field. Just as important, it enables us to take into account the evolving values, expectations and aspirations of society towards sustainable forest management. It also provides the opportunity to build on the experiences we and our stakeholders have gained from the use of the standards.

Multi-stakeholder group revising our Sustainable Forest Management standard

This process is of fundamental importance as these documents define not only the environmental, social and economic requirements for sustainable forest management, but also how implementation in the forest is certified.

Furthermore, we are reviewing the standards that provide the framework for the development of standards at national level, which is fundamental to PEFC as a bottom-up organization, and how compliance of national standards with PEFC's Sustainability Benchmarks is verified.

The revision of all our standards must begin five years following the last approval of the standard.

Revision at the national level

It is not just at international level that we require the revision of standards, but at the national level too. Like our international standards, we need to ensure that all PEFC endorsed national forest certification systems are the best they can be.

This is why we have developed a system to ensure PEFC endorsed national systems are regularly reviewed, and if necessary, revised. For a national system to maintain its endorsement, it must meet a series of endorsement milestones. These milestones are linked to the national periodic review of the system and the sustainable forest management standard.

Find out more about the revision process for national systems.