Indiana State Forests are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®). Purchasers of timber from State Forests may market products as FSC certified only if they have FSC Chain-of-Custody (CoC) certification. The Indiana Classified Forest and Wildlands program is also certified by the FSC, with individual landowners given the option to participate in the FSC certificate. Purchasers of timber from Classified Forest and Wildlands must verify that the owner has chosen to participate; if so, the purchaser may market those products as certified with the proper CoC certification. To expedite and simplify this CoC process, the Division of Forestry has developed a template procedures document and achieved a Group certificate through Scientific Certification Systems (SCS). Any Indiana company can use the template as a guide in developing their own document.
Membership in the Division of Forestry’s Group Chain of Custody is limited to companies that meet the following qualifications:
- Located within the State of Indiana
- Engaged in logging, hauling or primary processing of forest products
- Make application to the Division of Forestry (DoF) requesting group membership
- Acknowledge and agree to the requirements and responsibilities of group membership
- Authorize the DoF to apply for CoC certification on the member’s behalf
- Agree to comply with Corrective Action Requests (CARs) issued by DoF, contract auditors, or the Certification Body, SCS
- Agree to provide information (as necessary to ensure compliance with FSC CoC standards) to the DoF or the Certification Body upon request. This information may include, but not limited to: production records, internal policy documents, management records, invoices for services or products, agreements with outside entities; this information (excluding financial data) will be publicly available upon request.
- Submit to an initial audit and to annual audits by DoF and/or the Certifying Body
- Agree to have FSC product claims for labeling, marketing, and promotion comply with the appropriate FSC standard and be approved by SCS through the DoF.
- Ability to communicate, submit/receive documents and/or participate in virtual meetings via electronic email, smart phone, or computer as necessary.
- Allow Accreditation Services International (ASI), the organization responsible for the Certifying Body’s accreditation, rights to access the site for the purposes of external evaluation and control (including unannounced audits). For this COC group certificate, the certification body and FSC publish information provided by the group manager on the name, contact details, and certificate codes of each group member on the FSC database entry. For group members that source controlled material, the certification body and the group manager each publish annual summaries on the FSC database entry. ASI may audit the certification body and/or conduct a compliance audit of the group manager, either of which would result in a report published by ASI that could reveal the names of group member companies.
Inquires may be directed to the Division of Forestry’s FSC CoC Administrator: cgonso@dnr.IN.gov
FSC trademark license codes – FSC® C108845 & FSC® C002017
Resources
- FSC public listing of Group Members and other documents available under License FSC-C002017
- Group Entity (IN DoF) Procedures
- Group Member Procedures Manual
- Group Controlled Wood Purchase Area
