Hungarian, Italian and UK systems open for public consultation

The global public consultations for the Hungarian, Italian and UK national forest certification systems are now open, following their submission to PEFC for endorsement. Stakeholders globally are invited to comment on their compliance with PEFC International’s Sustainability Benchmarks by 7 August 2016.

This is the first time Hungary has submitted its national forest certification system to PEFC for endorsement, following their acceptance as a PEFC National member earlier this year in January.

Hungary is one of the few remaining European countries with a significant share of private forest owners that is yet to have an endorsed national forest certification system. The successful endorsement of the Hungarian forest certification system will enable the country’s forest owners, including the many small- and family forest owners, gain international recognition through PEFC certification.

For Italy and the UK, this is the third and fourth time, respectively, that the countries have applied for endorsement by PEFC.

PEFC International ensures that national systems are revised regularly in multi-stakeholder processes by limiting the validity of endorsements to five years, after which they can apply for re-endorsement to continue benefitting from PEFC recognition.

As part of the endorsement process, PEFC seeks comments and feedback from all interested parties to ensure full compliance of the national systems with PEFC’s Sustainability Benchmark during a 60-day global public consultation.

All comments received during the global public consultation will provide valuable information for the third-party assessor in determining whether the respective national system is in compliance with international requirements.
http://pefc.org/news-a-media/general-sfm-news/2144-hungarian-italian-and-uk-systems-open-for-public-consultation