Consumers are becoming more and more critical. They increasingly desire products that are also manufactured according to ecological and social criteria. When presenting the FSC Logo, companies ensure wood comes from forests cultivated sustainably. Certified companies can directly place the FSC Logo on the product and can use this logo for advertising purposes. As the number of critical consumers is growing and FSC is increasingly becoming known, FSC provides companies with a simple management tool, which enables them to work sustainably and communicate this credibly.

In 1993, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) was established as a worldwide independent and non-profit organization by environmental bodies, representatives of domestic ethnical groups and companies active in forestry and timber industry. FSC is a member-based organization that is open to any individual and legal entities. SQS, which is an accredited Certification Body, is recognized as an auditing body by FSC. Quality Austria cooperates with SQS.

The certification procedure is to help to achieve cultivation
of forests that is

• ecologically compatible
• socially compatible and
• economically sustainable cultivation

and to improve the opportunities of marketing timber produced in a manner that is ecologically and socially correct. In addition, it is to help companies active in forestry and timber industry to continually improve their performance.

• sawing and plaugh mills
• wood processing industry
• building joiners and cabinet makers
• carpenters
• timber trade
• paper industry and trade
• print officies, publishing companies and bookbindery

FSC has established ten principles for forest certification (FSC Forest Management FM), which are valid all over the world. Among other things, the following items are essential:

• compliance with the laws and FSC principles, conformity to labour laws and health protection
• respecting the rights of ownership and rights of use and enjoyment
• endeavours to protect, maintain and preserve the relationship with the local population
• maintaining a high quality of timber
• renouncing clear-cutting
• principle of regeneration
• establish reservations
• planning and control documentation
• preserving the protective forests
• maintaining biodiversity

Certification of the Chain of Custody (FSC CoC) requires the following:

• documented control system
• acknowledgement of receipt of goods
• separation and/or marking of certified and non-certified received goods
• safe product labelling
• identification of certified outgoing goods
• accounting

Quality Austria provides its audit services for FSC CoC based on the cooperation with SQS, which is based in Zollikofen/Switzerland and is accredited at FSC International in Bonn (FSC-ACC-013).

ISO 9001, ISO 14001, EMAS Sustainability Reports, Austria Quality Label