FSC® Certification: Chain of Custody

Improve control of sourcing of wood and wood fibre products and meet customers’ sustainability demands.

Chain of custody certificate for products demonstrates to customers and stakeholders that the wooden/fibre parts of your certified products originate from well-managed forests, controlled sources or recycled material.

Chain of custody (CoC) establishes procedures for controlling the sourcing and transfer of wood and wood products at all stages to ensure that the end product can be traced to sustainable and approved sources.

What is FSC chain of custody

The FSC® (Forest Stewardship Council®) is a non-profit organization. It has developed the most recognized scheme for sustainable forestry and traceability of forests products. CoC certification allows organisations to use the FSC logo on products increasing their marketability.

All sizes and types of organization are able to apply for chain of custody certification. To achieve chain of custody certification, organizations must meet the FSC-STD-40-004 chain of custody certification standard.

Chain of Custody (CoC) is the process that verifies that FSC-certified material has been identified and separated from non-certified and non-controlled material as it makes its way along the supply chain, from the forest to the market.
All transfers in the supply chain of FSC-certified products require effective CoC management systems to be in place at the level of the respective organization and their verification by an independent FSC-accredited certification body.
Company controlled sources are controlled in accordance with FSC standards to exclude illegally harvested timber, forests where high conservation values are threatened, genetically modified organisms and violation of people’s civil and traditional rights.
FSC CoC certification can be combined with certification to other standards such as ISCC - Sustainable bio energy certification and ISO 14001 (environmental management system standard).

Benefits of becoming certified

Only FSC CoC certified operations are allowed to label products with the FSC Trademarks. The FSC label provides a credible link between responsible production and consumption, enabling consumers and businesses to make purchasing decisions that benefit people and the environment as well as providing ongoing business value.

Other benefits for a company with FSC CoC certified products include:

Improved market access in an increasingly environmentally aware sector.
Demonstrate that you take the environmental concerns of your customers seriously.
Compliance with public or private procurement policies and specifications such as the EU Ecolabel scheme for furniture, or the U.S. Green Building Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system.

Getting started

To obtain certification, you need to implement an effective environmental management system complying with the requirements of the standard.

For an overview of the FSC standards, please see the Become certified section on the FSC website. You can also directly access the FSC CoC standard here.

DNV is an accredited third-party certification body and can help you throughout the journey. We provide relevant training and certification for your environmental management system.

We provide FSC® (A000509) in collaboration with DNV Business Assurance Sweden AB.

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