The Working Groups

The standards development process is driven by multi-stakeholder working groups. These groups build consensus on the respective technical documentation, relying on the involvement of active and committed individuals from different interest groups.

Working groups can range in size from eight to over 30 people. To ensure that no single interest can dominate the process, we ensure that all working groups have balanced representation of stakeholder categories.

The current working groups

Permanent working groups

There are two permanent working groups:

The Sustainable Forest Management WG provides guidance on the implementation and interpretation of the Sustainable Forest Management (ST 1003) and Group Certification (ST 1002) benchmark standards, including the continued development of our newly adopted approach of certification for Trees outside Forests.

The Chain of Custody WG is responsible for the development of the PEFC chain of custody, including the maintenance of the following standards: PEFC Chain of Custody (ST 2002), PEFC Trademarks (ST 2001) and Certification Body Requirements – Chain of Custody (ST 2003).

Active working groups

The Operating Forest Management Certification WG is developing the Certification Body Requirements for Sustainable Forest Management Certification (ST 1004) standard. This standard will set the requirements for certification bodies that carry out PEFC forest management certification, replacing the current Annexe 6. Find out more.

Establishing the working groups

Following the development of a terms of reference document that sets out the requirements for the working group, such as scope, composition and working style, a call for nominations is launched. Stakeholders from around the world are invited to nominate the people/organizations they want to represent them within the working group. 

The PEFC Board of Directors is responsible for accepting the nominations and selecting the members of the working group.

To ensure that no single concerned interest can dominate the process, all working groups have balanced representation of interested stakeholders, including geographical representation, and a consensus-driven decision making process.

Stakeholder categories within the working groups are derived from the major groups outlined in the UN Agenda 21 (Business & Industry; NGOs; Scientific & Technological Communities; Farmers & Small Forest Landowners; Workers & Trade Unions; Local Authorities; Indigenous People; Women; and Children & Youth).

We have further refined the desired composition of a working group and require at least the following stakeholder categories to participate:

• Certified PEFC scheme users: forest owners and managers; forest based industry (processing and trade)
• Uncertified PEFC scheme users: PEFC scheme assessors; certification bodies; accreditation bodies; consultants
• Customers and consumers: retailer organizations; consumer organizations; institutional consumers of forest based products, including governments
• Civil society: science, environmental, social and other interest groups
• PEFC National Governing Body members

The role of the PEFC Board of Directors and the PEFC General Assembly is limited to the formal approval (or rejection) of the standards; these bodies do not develop the final draft standards agreed by the working group.

The work of the working groups is coordinated by Michael Berger, PEFC's Head of Technical Unit, with PEFC International providing organizational and administrative support.

The 2016-2020 revision process

There were six working groups responsible for developing our standards during the 2016-2020 revision process:

• WG 1: Sustainable Forest Management
• WG 2: Forest Management Certification Procedures and Group Certification
• WG 3: Standard Setting Procedures
• WG 4: Chain of Custody and Labelling
• WG 5: Chain of Custody Certification Body Requirements
• WG 6: Endorsement Process