Public comment is being sought on a revised draft Australian Standard for Chain of custody of forest products (AS4707), the standard that underpins the traceability of wood from well-managed forests into the wood and paper products.
This Australian Standard, along with the Australian Standard for Sustainable forest management (AS4708) was developed by Australian Forestry Standard Limited (AFS Ltd) and is a key component of the Australian Forest Certification Scheme (AFCS).
“The Australian Forest Certification Scheme is recognised as a world class forest certification system,” said the Chairman of the AS4707 Standard Reference Committee, Mr Peter Zed.
“The Chain of custody standard is a vital component of the AFCS system, because it ensures that forest certification claims made on forest products are valid and can be verified.”
“The Committee includes a broad range of organisations involved in the production and distribution of forest products, including furniture, paper and building timbers. These organisations are keen to get public feedback on how the revised Standard can be further improved.”
The draft revised Standard has been sent to a broad range of stakeholders in forest products and forest management seeking their comments.
The Committee is also inviting public comment on the draft standard.
Comments should be submitted by 8 November 2013, preferably using the submission form available from AFS Ltd.
