Sustainable Forestry Initiative

Accreditation of Independent Certification Bodies

Man with clipboard, hardhat in a forest

The SFI program has several layers of oversight to support a rigorous and independent third-party certification audit. Certification bodies performing audits to SFI forest, chain-of-custody or fiber sourcing requirements must be independent, objective and qualified. Depending on the scope of the certification audit, they must have completed an accreditation program through one or more of the following independent, international accreditation bodies:

ANSI, ANAB and SCC are national members of the International Accreditation Forum. ANAB has developed an accreditation program for certification bodies conducting audits to the SFI 2010-2014 Standard. Once a certification body successfully completes the accreditation application program, which includes an on-site audit and witness assessment process, it is granted accreditation by ANAB's Accreditation Council. This gives it the right to use the ANAB accreditation mark on all certificates issued to organizations certified to the SFI 2010-2014 Standard.

ANSI has developed an accreditation program for certification bodies conducting audits to SFI Requirements: Section 3 – Chain-of-Custody Standard and Section 4 – Rules for On-Product Labels. Once the certification body successfully completes the accreditation application program, which includes an on-site and witness assessment process, it is granted accreditation by ANSI’s Accreditation Council. This gives it the right to use the ANSI accreditation symbol on any accredited certificates it issues to companies achieving SFI fiber sourcing or chain-of-custody requirements.

SCC delivers accreditations for certification bodies wishing to perform audits to the SFI 2010-2014 Standard and/or SFI fiber sourcing or chain-of-custody requirements.