Some key elements of forest certification

Presentation prepared for the FAO / GTZ / ITTO seminar "Building Confidence..."

Rome 19 & 20 February 2001

Pierre Hauselmann

Two definitions

Certification scheme

      · Individual mechanism e.g a certification body in FSC system or a national initiative in PEFC system

Certification system

      · System that bring together different schemes under the same general process and performances (endorsement / accreditation)

Objective

· Review some key elements of forest certification

      · Taking GTZ document "institutional requirements for forest certification" as a basis

        · Review of hard and soft law related to Sustainable development, WTO Technical Barriers to Trade agreement (TBT) requirements,ISO guides and standards,Expectations of public interest groups

      · For this presentation:

        · Focus on ISO guides and standards & TBT requirements & only address related aspects of key elements

· Possible input into the discussions - no conclusion

Elements

· Components of forest certification
· Approaches (system / performance)
· Relation between governmental C&I processes and certification
· Hierarchical framework for the elaboration of a forest certification standard
· An implication of mutual recognition

Components of forest certification

 

What is usually understood under "forest certification" is the addition of several activities, which have all their own rules and guides:

· Certification
· Standardisation
· Accreditation
· Logo use (labelling)

> Any mechanism for MR should clearly make the distinction

Approaches

System and performance approaches

System

      · Provide direction for an organisation's activities insofar as they affect the environment

      ·       Each organisation define its own environmental objectives

ASSUMTION: if a good system is operating, it will lead to satisfactory performance

System and performance approaches

Performance

      · Objectives (performance) are set outside the organisation, and must be met to be awarded a certificate

      · So that, it is possible to claim credibly that a sufficient level of performance has been reached

ASSUMPTION: If the environmental performances are good, a satisfactory system is in place

System and performance approaches

BOTH HAVE A ROLE TO PLAY!!!

System: helps reach performances

Performance: ensures that the
performances are achieved on
the ground and claims about it

Claims - system

· A management system is in place

      · "...two organizations carrying out similar activities but having different environmental performances may both comply with... [the] requirements [of this standard]." (ISO 14001 - introduction)

      · If certification is granted on the basis of a quality system, the "logo shall not be used on a product or in a way that may be interpreted as denoting product conformity" (ISO/IEC Guide 62 - 3.7.2)

      · "No link found between management systems and performance" (Bate's ISO 14000 update - January 2001)

· No claim of performance

Claims - performance

· That a performance has been reached

      · "Environmental labels and declarations shall be accurate, verifiable, relevant and not misleading." (ISO 14020 - principle 1)

      · "At this time there are no definitive methods for measuring sustainability or confirming its accomplishment. therefore, no claim of sustainability shall be made." (ISO 14021 - 5.5)

Distinguishing system & performance

· Sometimes easy:

      · A procedure shall be in place to... (system)
      ·       Continuous improvement as the sole objective (system)
      ·       Environmental objectives set by the applicant (system)
      ·       X% of ... (performance)
      ·       Environmental objectives set externally (performance)

Distinguishing system & performance

· Sometimes difficult:

      · Certification procedures:

        · do not require compliance with the standard (adapted with the applicant)
        ·         Standard with performance requirements is not used to audit
        ·         Desk study only

      · So-called performance certification systems / schemes have a mixture of system and performance requirements

Relation between governmental C&I processes and certification

WTO TDT

World Trade Organization's Technical Barrier to Trade agreement

      · "Standard: document approved by a recognised body that provides, for repeated use, rules, guidelines or characteristics for product or related processes and production methods, with which compliance is not mandatory..." (TBT - Annex 1 - Terms and their definitions for the purpose of the Agreement)

      · "where international standards exist or their completion is imminent, the [national] standardizing body shall use them, or the relevant parts of them, as a basis for the standards it develops..." (TBT Annex III - code of good practice for the Preparation, Adoption and Application of Standards - Substantive Provision F).

WTO TBT

      · "International body or system: body or system whose membership is open to the relevant bodies of at least all members" (TBT annex 1)

      · "Regional body or system: body or system whose membership is open to the relevant bodies of only some members" (TBT annex 1)

ISO/IEC Guide 2 definitions apply if not mentioned otherwise in TBT annex 1

ISO/IEC Guide 2

      · "International standard: standard that is adopted by an international standardizing/standards organization and made available to the public"

      · "International standardization: standardization in which involvement is open to relevant bodies from all countries"

Forest certification "documents"

· Are they standards?

      · Yes - correspond to the TBT definition

              "Standard: document approved by a recognised body that provides, for repeated use, rule, guidelines or characteristics for product or related processes and production methods, with which compliance is not mandatory..." (TBT - Annex 1 - Terms and their definitions for the purpose of the Agreement)

Governmental C&I processes

· Are they International or regional standards?

      · No

        · not produced by a body which membership is open to at least all WTO members
        ·         nor can government ministers be considered as standardisation bodies (not approved by a standardisation body)

· Governmental C&Is cannot be considered as international standards to be used by national standardisation bodies to develop national standards

      · But can provide a substantial input in the development of regional/national standards

Hierarchical framework for the elaboration of a forest certification standard


Hierarchical framework

· Highlights the fact that forest certification standards have both globally and locally applicable elements

· Helps streamline the development of national/regional standards

· Ensure that "standardizing body ... uses them [international standards], or the relevant parts of them, as a basis for the standards it develops" (TBT code of good practice...)

Hierarchical framework


An implication of mutual recognition

Bodies in a MR agreement recognise the weaknesses of the others as sufficiently requiring to satisfy their own requirements