Chain-Of-Custody Made Easy

19 October 2007
A series of guides has been developed to explain the importance of Australia’s chain-of-custody certification in demonstrating and marketing the environmental integrity of timber-based products.
The four guides summarise the process of chain-of-custody implementation for forest managers, primary processors, manufacturers, merchants and retailers. They explain chain-of-custody certification and how to attain this through the Australian Forest Certification Scheme (AFCS) or the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).
Dr Alastair Woodard from Wood Products Victoria said there was a growing awareness of forest product certification in the marketplace and an increasing desire by consumers to support good forest management by buying certified products.
“The AFCS and FSC have developed standards that set down the requirements each enterprise in the supply chain needs to meet in order to claim that products are from certified forests,” Woodard said. “The different requirements of the two schemes are summarised in the guides.”
Chain-of-custody certification enables companies to identify and control their sources of certified, non-certified and recycled timber; demonstrate to their customers the environmental integrity of their products; and use the relevant trademarks, labels and claims to promote the social and environmental qualities of their products to the market.
“For an end-product to be labelled as being made from certified material, or to have claims regarding forest management, there must be an unbroken chain of organisations covering every change in legal ownership of the product,” Woodard said. “Chain-of-custody therefore starts with taking products from certified forests and includes the various manufacturing, wholesaling and retailing stages.”
The guides have been developed with funding from Forest and Wood Products Australia (FWPA).
The guides can be downloaded from www.fwpa.com.au and are also available from state timber associations.

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