FSC Forest Certification

Forest Management & Stump-to-Forest Gate Chain-of-Custody Certification Evaluation Report | PUBLIC

Version 7-0 (December 2016) | © SCS Global Services

Page 30 of 46

(Law #12.651/12). Furthermore,

there is a forestry recovery project in

place which is meant to eliminate

exotic species from permanent

preservation areas.

Chain of custody

Everyone who is involved in the

forest management chain-of-custody

is aware of the procedures and

controls that are required to assure

the products traceability.

None

Group Management

4.2 Process of Determining Conformance

4.2.1 Structure of Standard and Degrees of Nonconformance

FSC-accredited forest stewardship standards consist of a three-level hierarchy: principle, the criteria that

correspond to that principle, and the performance indicators that elaborate each criterion. Consistent

with SCS Forest Conservation Program evaluation protocols, the team collectively determines whether

or not the subject forest management operation is in conformance with every applicable indicator of the

relevant forest stewardship standard. Each nonconformance must be evaluated to determine whether

it constitutes a major or minor nonconformance at the level of the associated criterion or sub-criterion.

Not all indicators are equally important, and there is no simple numerical formula to determine whether

an operation is in nonconformance. The team therefore must use their collective judgment to assess

each criterion and determine if the FME is in conformance. If the FME is determined to be in

nonconformance at the criterion level, then at least one of the applicable indicators must be in major

nonconformance.

Corrective action requests (CARs) are issued for every instance of a nonconformance. Major

nonconformances trigger Major CARs and minor nonconformances trigger Minor CARs.

4.2.1 Interpretations of Major CARs, Minor CARs and Observations

Major CARs: Major nonconformances, either alone or in combination with nonconformances of all other

applicable indicators, result (or are likely to result) in a fundamental failure to achieve the objectives of

the relevant FSC Criterion given the uniqueness and fragility of each forest resource. These are

corrective actions that must be resolved or closed out before a certificate can be awarded. If Major

CARs arise after an operation is certified, the timeframe for correcting these nonconformances is

typically shorter than for Minor CARs. Certification is contingent on the certified FME’s response to the

CAR within the stipulated time frame.

Minor CARs: These are corrective action requests in response to minor nonconformances, which are

typically limited in scale or can be characterized as an unusual lapse in the system. Most Minor CARs are