The Forest Stewardship Council International Center is an international not-for-profit organisation established to promote the responsible management of the world’s forests. FSC is a certification system that provides internationally recognised standard-setting, trademark assurance and accreditation to companies, organisations, and communities interested in responsible forestry.
Find out more about FSC at - https://fsc.org/en
ISEAL Code Compliant designates members who have successfully undergone independent evaluations against the ISEAL Codes of Good Practice in Standards-Setting, Assurance and Impacts.
The ISEAL Code of Good Practice for Sustainability Systems (‘the ISEAL Code’) v1.0 became effective as of 1 March 2024. There is an 18-month transition period of ISEAL Code Compliant organisations to align their systems to the ISEAL Code.
During the transition period, no independent evaluations against the Standard-Setting, Impacts, or Assurance Codes are conducted, but Code Compliant organisations will engage in compliance activities and are expected to align their systems with the ISEAL Code. Independent evaluations against the scope of the ISEAL Code are anticipated from Q4 2025. Information on the transition period is publicly available on the ISEAL Code of Good Practice revision and integration page.
FSC reviewed its standards in 2019 and agreed not to launch a revision process.
As a result of this independent evaluation, FSC will make the following improvements to their assurance system:
-
Update their risk management plan to clearly define the reviewing process and decision-making body.
-
Update the list of data sources used in risk evaluation and monitoring to better reflect the wide variety of sources used by FSC.
-
Translate the training activities for assurance staff into a framework that can be applied and adapted to future needs.
As a result of this independent evaluation, FSC have made the following improvements to their M&E system:
-
Analysed the resource necessary to expand their M&E system and worked to ensure adequate resourcing of activities
-
Introduced structured reporting from M&E to the FSC management team and Board.
ISEAL Code Compliant members provide publicly available reports that give a comprehensive and accessible overview of a member's system.
ISEAL System Overview Forest Stewardship Council 2022