How to Certify to the SFI Program
The three SFI certification standards – forest management, chain of custody and fiber sourcing – all require third-party audits to maintain an internationally recognized and trusted standard of practice.
Organizations or agencies that own or manage forestland are eligible to apply for certification to the SFI 2010-2014 Standard. This includes companies, universities, conservation groups, government agencies, timber investment management organizations and real estate investment trusts. An organization seeking SFI forest management certification must implement all relevant requirements set out in the SFI 2010-2014 Standard.
Any company that processes or trades SFI-certified forest products, including manufacturers of forest products, paper merchants, brokers, printers and publishers, is eligible to seek SFI chain-of-custody certification. The company must have processes in place to track the source of its raw materials, such as inventory control, employee training, reporting and invoicing.
There are two ways to utilize the SFI fiber sourcing label:
- Primary producers – manufacturers sourcing more than half of their fiber directly from the forest – must meet Objectives 8 through 20 of the SFI 2010-2014 Standard. If they own or control forest land, they must also meet forest land management Objectives 1 through 7.
- Secondary producers – such as furniture manufacturers sourcing more than half of their fiber from secondary sources – who want to use the SFI Certified Fiber Sourcing label must This means they account for at least two-thirds of their fiber as meeting SFI fiber sourcing requirements – as noted above. The other one-third cannot come from controversial sources, which include illegal logging and areas without effective social laws.
There is a growing trend, especially with chain-of-custody certification, to be certified to more than one certification program. This expands the supply chain and provides more options to customers. Some certification bodies can certify to more than one standard during a single audit, reducing time and costs.