TD-20-011-V4 is Chain of Custody Evaluations standard provides the requirements to be followed by FSC accredited certification bodies when auditing CoC organisations against applicable requirements of the FSC normative framework and integrating the findings to come to a reliable certification decision. This standard thereby aims to reduce the level of subjectivity and increase the consistency between sampling levels implemented by different certification bodies across different situations.
PSU has recommended initiating a full revision process of the Chain of Custody certification and accreditation standards (FSC-STD-40-004 and FSC-STD-20-011) to update the standards to incorporate new and emerging sectors and products categories, blockchain requirements, circularity principles, results from the Procurement Claims pilot and Cross-Border Credit pilot, and others.
The last full revision of the standards were approved in November 2016. Since this late revision, the application of new FSC input and output product groups have diversified and grown from biopolymers to forest-based textiles which requires to revise the standards to ensure their continued suitability for meeting industry needs.
The recent targeted revision completed in 2021 focused on the incorporation of the FSC Core Labour Requirements which integrated several interpretations and advice notes.
This public consultation will remain open between 26 July - 2 September 2022.