DOMESTIC

Australian Forestry Standard Limited is a no-for-profit public company registered in July 2003. The company owns the standard development functions and manages the elements of the Australian Forest Certification Scheme.

The objects of Australian Forestry Standard Limited are to:

• promote sustainable forest management in Australia's forests through an Australian Forestry Standard to be owned by the Company (AFS);
  
• support and maintain the development of the AFS, and other related or complementary standards;
  
• maintain accreditation as a Standards Development Organisation;
  
• support and facilitate the use of the AFS, and any related standards, for forestry certification within Australia; and
  
• seek mutual recognition for the AFS internationally.

The company's Business Plan 2006-2009 has adopted the following as its Business Mission Statement:

The Australian Forest Certification Scheme (AFCS) will:

• provide Australian and overseas consumers with an independent, internationally recognised third-party certification scheme for forest management in Australia; and
  
  
• promote a culture of 'continuous improvement' of the sustainable forest management practices in Australia .

Australian Forestry Standard Limited will provide the structure and framework within which the Australian Forest Certification Scheme is implemented, maintained, reviewed and promoted to all stakeholders interested in forest certification.

In order to fulfil the Business Mission Statement, the company has set the following Strategic Directions:

• To make the Australian Forest Certification Scheme the pre-eminent forest certification scheme of choice for the forest products supply chain from forest to consumer in Australia.
  
  
• To provide Australian and overseas consumers with an independent, internationally recognised third-party certification scheme for forest management in Australia.
  
  
• To promote a culture of 'continuous improvement' of the sustainable forest management practices in Australia.
  
  
• To provide the structure and framework within which the Australian Forest Certification Scheme is implemented, maintained, reviewed and promoted to all stakeholders interested in forest certification.
  
  
• To encourage the uptake of certification of timber and wood products within the domestic supply and value chain.
  
  
• To seek to have AFS labelled products in the marketplace promoting the benefits of sustainable forest management
  

The company succeeded the Australian Forestry Standard Steering Committee who has initiated and managed the development of The Australian Forestry Standard from late 1999 to July 2003. The Australian Forestry Standard Steering Committee was a partnership of the Commonwealth and State and Territory Governments, National Association of Forest Industries, Plantation Timber Association of Australia, Australian Forest Growers and the Australian Council of Trade Unions.

The company is an accredited Standards Development Organisation with its initial accreditation being awarded by the Standards Accreditation Board of Standard Australia on 27 January 2004 for three years.  The scope of the accreditation was "to develop Australian Standards for forest management for wood production and Australian Standards that support the Australian Forest Certification Scheme". The company underwent regular surveillance audits over the three year period by the Standards Accreditation Board of Standard Australia to maintain its accreditation as a Standards Development Organisation.

Following a structural re-organisation within Standards Australia in 2006/07, the accreditation of Standards Development Organisation is now undertaken by the Accreditation Board for Standards Development Organisations (ABSDO).  The company was re-accredited, based on the ABSDO’s ‘Requirements for Accreditation of Standards Development Organisations – INTERIM – 20/12/2006’, by the ABSDO on 31 August 2007 for three years to the same scope of accreditation.

The company's standards development processes are described in Procedure 1 - Standards Development within the Australian Forest Certification Scheme.

Two technical committees are constituted under the company to develop the standards which the company owns and manages as part of the Australian Forest Certification Scheme. The Australian Forestry Standard Technical Reference Committee is solely responsible for the technical content of The Australian Forestry Standard. The Australian Forestry Standard Technical Committee is solely responsible for the technical content of the Chain of Custody Standard. Both committees have at least two Directors of the company as members in accordance with the company's constitution.

There are four membership classes in the company:

• Government
  
• Forestry and Wood Products Sector
  
• Employee Representative Organisations
  
• General

with a current membership of 26 organisations or individuals.

If you would like to become a member of AFS Limited, you can download an application form here.

The membership classes elect the Board of Directors, currently 10 Directors, with representation being:

• Government - four
• Forestry and Wood Products Sector - three
  
• Employee Representative Organisations - one
  
• General - one
• up to two Independent Additional, one of whom is the Chair of the company.

The current Directors are:

The day to day management of the company is undertaken by an Executive Officer who is also the Company Secretary. The current Executive Officer is Mr Mark Edwards.

For the street address and registered place of business of the company, see Contact Us.

Australian Forestry Standard Limited (AFSL) is a member of the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes (PEFC) Council - one of 31 countries on the Council including seven non-European countries (Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Gabon, Malaysia and the USA) with 21 endorsed schemes. The Secretariat of the PEFC Council is based in Luxembourg.

The essential components of the Australian Forest Certification Scheme (AFCS), were evaluated against the requirements of the PEFC Council's Technical Document and its Annexes for the purposes of seeking mutual recognition with other national schemes within the PEFC Council framework.

In October 2003, AFSL submitted its application and scheme documentation for a conformance (evaluation) assessment by the PEFC Council, which sought as an outcome for Australia, the mutual recognition of the AFCS under the PEFC Council.

The PEFC Council let a contract to JP Management Consulting (Europe) Oy of Finland, following a competitive tendering process within Europe, to deliver an evaluation of the AFCS. The consultant's team based in Finland, New Zealand and the UK commenced work in January 2004. An essential component of the assessment included an in-country visit (over a week in March 2004) to meet with interested stakeholders in Australia (restricted to NSW, Victoria, Tasmania and the ACT for timing and logistical reasons) and discuss the various elements of the AFCS.

A Draft Final Report was provided to AFSL for its comments with the Final Report made available to the PEFC Council at the end of July 2004. The Final Report was considered by the Board of the PEFC Council at their September 2004 meeting and, as a positive recommendation ensued from the Board based on the consultant's recommendation, a ballot was undertaken of all member countries in September/October 2004. The member countries voted to endorse the AFCS for mutual recognition under the PEFC Council umbrella.

The decision on mutual recognition was announced at the PEFC Council's General Assembly in October 2004 which was held in Santiago, Chile. It should also be noted that the Italian and Chilean schemes were also evaluated at the same time as the Australian scheme with a similar decisions announced at the General Assembly.

Of interest to Australia, as a Montreal Process country, is that the Chilean scheme had its positive decision on mutual recognition at the same time as Australia as it has also undergone a similar evaluation process by a different consultant; Brazil's and Canada's forest certification schemes have now followed Australia and Chile and have received mutual recognition under the PEFC umbrella during 2005 and the SFI scheme from the USA, which had been evaluated during 2005, received a positive decision on mutual recognition which was announced in early December 2005.