You may have noticed that in February 2020, PEFC published the latest versions of the PEFC Chain of Custody (ST 2002) and PEFC Trademarks (ST 2001) standards. But what does this mean for you as a PEFC chain of custody certified company?
Firstly, there is nothing you need to do in the short-term, as both standards have a 24-month transition period. You can continue business as normal with your certification against the 2013 version of the PEFC Chain of Custody standard – your certificate remains valid and you don’t need to change how you use the PEFC trademarks (the label).
The date you need to remember is 14 February 2022. Until this date, your audits (both annual and recertification) can continue to be done against the 2013 standard. However, your next audit after this date will need to be against the requirements in the 2020 standard. 13 February 2022 is the last date that you can be audited against the 2013 Chain of Custody standard.
In order to be certified against the 2020 version of the standards, you will need to adapt your chain of custody management system and procedures to the revised requirements. You can see a summary of the main changes below:
Once your management procedures are in line with the 2020 requirements, you should contact your certification body (or choose a new certification body) and inform them that your next audit will be against the 2020 Chain of Custody standard.
After you have successfully passed your audit, the certification body will present you with a PEFC certificate. You will then be contacted by the PEFC national member in your country, or PEFC International, in order to sign a PEFC trademarks usage contract. If you already have one, you may simply be asked to accept an amendment to your existing contract. But don’t worry, your PEFC trademarks licence number won’t change.
Unlike the previous standard, it is now mandatory for you to sign a trademarks usage contract, even if you don’t plan on using the PEFC trademarks (though we hope you do!).
Once your trademarks usage contract is signed, you can request access to the new PEFC Label Generator, in order to start producing PEFC trademarks in line with the 2020 PEFC Trademarks standard.
Using the PEFC trademarks
The 2020 versions of the Chain of Custody and PEFC Trademarks standards are linked. This means that while you are still certified against the 2013 Chain of Custody standard, you need to continue using the PEFC trademarks in line with the 2008 PEFC Logo Usage Rules.
Once you are certified against the 2020 Chain of Custody standard, you will need to use the PEFC trademarks in line with the 2020 PEFC Trademarks standard.
To make it easier for you, while you are certified against the 2013 Chain of Custody standard, you will continue to have access to the current version of the PEFC Label Generator (LG V1). This ensures you create PEFC labels in line with the correct graphic requirements.
Once you are certified against the 2020 Chain of Custody standard, and have signed a new trademarks usage contract (or accepted an amendment to your current contract), you can request access to the new version of the PEFC Label Generator (LG V2). LG V2 will produce PEFC labels in line with the graphic requirements on the 2020 PEFC Trademarks standard.
If you still have material that you produced while you were certified against the 2013 Chain of Custody standard, you can sell this remaining material using the PEFC trademarks according to the 2008 PEFC Logo Usage Rules.
Please find a summary of the main changes to this standard below:
Choosing a certification body
In order for certification bodies to be able to provide certification services against the 2020 Chain of Custody standard, they need to undergo training and adapt their procedures, and get accredited against the 2020 version. For most certification bodies, this process will be ongoing throughout 2020.
If you do decide to move to the 2020 Chain of Custody standard soon, please ensure your chosen certification body is able to provide certification against this version of the standard.
source: https://pefc.org/for-business/supply-chain-companies/moving-to-the-latest-standards