Five steps for FSC certification of the hottest gr

Five steps to meet the FSC certification of green forest packaging enterprises

with the promotion of the concepts of green, environmental protection and low carbon by the media and environmental protection organizations in recent years, the awareness of environmental protection has become more and more popular in the whole society, while in the printing and packaging industry, a green trend of forest packaging has become increasingly fierce. Huicong printing published on July 2nd, 2010, entitled "what can FSC certification bring to printing and packaging enterprises?" This paper introduces in detail the definition of FSC certification and the benefits it can bring to printing and packaging enterprises. So for the majority of printing and packaging enterprises, how to obtain FSC certification? Next, Huicong printing will analyze the detailed process and cost of FSC certification for you

the first step is to consult one or more certification bodies recognized by FSC. There are two kinds of FSC certification, among which the certification suitable for printing and packaging enterprises is production and marketing chain of custody certification (COC). The first thing for printing and packaging enterprises to do is to go to the official website of FSC to inquire about the certification institutions recognized by FSC. Because FSC itself does not carry out certificate issuance activities, the certification process is carried out by independent certification bodies, which evaluate forest management and production and marketing chain of custody activities according to FSC standards. The certification body needs the enterprise to provide some basic information of the unit in order to make a preliminary estimate of the required certification cost and time. After that, the certification authority will provide the enterprise with information about the FSC certification requirements

here, enterprises must pay attention to that only FSC recognized certification bodies can issue certificates. At present, those who have this qualification in China are Bureau Veritas certification service department in East China, DNV certification, GFA Consulting Group Certification Department in Germany, IMO Swiss market ecology research institute, Huasai Tiancheng management technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd., Soil Association wood marking Agency (SA), and SC, which are used to regulate the working frequency of the experimental machine SGS General Standard Technical Service Co., Ltd., Rainforest Alliance smartwood project and other 9 certification bodies

the second step is to select the certification authority to cooperate with and sign an agreement with. The certification body will judge whether to sign a contract with the applicant (i.e. the party that is recognized as having high data stability) based on the first-hand information provided by the enterprise. Generally, the contract is signed for a period of 5 years, that is, the time of validity of the certification. When selecting the certification for cooperation, it is suggested that enterprises can adopt a wide spread strategy and consult several certification agencies. Of course, the location of certification agencies is also a major factor that enterprises need to consider, which is directly related to the costs incurred in the subsequent certification process

the third step is to implement certification audit to evaluate the certification conditions of the enterprise. The basic conditions of FSC certification generally include four points:

1 Accept and implement the FSC principles and standards and relevant standard documents formulated by the forest management committee as required

2. Engage in the processing or trade of forest products

3. Independent accounting and operation units

4. Raw materials can be purchased from FSC certified FSC materials

in this process, the enterprise will carry out the evaluation under the arrangement of the FSC certification authority. The main contents include: 1. Product identification; 2. Product separation (certified and non certified raw materials); 3. Establish archives (including records); 4. Training and staff information; 5. Selection of applicable system of the company; 6. Confirmation of product group; 7. Correct use of FSC logo and trademark

there is a trick here, that is, before the formal evaluation, enterprises can carry out internal training, documentation, identification, rehearsal and other work in advance according to the FSC principles. Or hire a third-party certification consulting company to provide professional guidance to assist the enterprise to pass the FSC certification at one time

step 4: collect audit data and form an audit report. The data collected in the third step of the audit process is the basis of the audit report. On the basis of the evaluation, the certification party will form a report. The report either considers that the assessment is qualified, or puts forward deficiencies that need to be improved. The report will be sent directly to the certification decision Committee for final evaluation. In the above four steps, with the good cooperation of the enterprise itself, the documents and other work required for FSC certification can be completed on a single site in about 10 to 20 days

step 5, FSC will then close the acquisition of oil return valve certificate and the registration of mark. If the certification decision is affirmative and all steps are affirmative, the company will be awarded the FSC certification certificate. If the audit shows that your unit has not fully met the requirements of the FSC, the certification authority will further audit your unit after completing the modifications recommended in the certification report, and you can pass the audit until these conditions are met within the specified time. After the formal review of FSC certification, FSC approval can be obtained within about days. So far, the enterprise has officially obtained the FSC certification. After obtaining the certification, printing and packaging enterprises can mark the products printed with FSC certified materials with FSC logo. It should be noted that FSC certification has a five-year validity period. During the validity period, FSC recognized certification institutions will implement annual supervision and audit to verify whether enterprises have always complied with the requirements of FSC certification. At a certain interval (usually once a year), the certification personnel will conduct a short and on-site audit on the company in order to check the implementation of the conditions defined in the report. Records, access control of materials and products, and the use of FSC marks are the main aspects of the audit

after the five steps of certification, the author will introduce you to the cost of FSC certification. Costs mainly include direct costs and indirect costs: direct costs - direct costs are the costs of the certification itself, such as FSC certification evaluation and audit costs, salaries and travel expenses of certification personnel, etc., which are fixed. Indirect costs - indirect costs are the additional costs required to meet the certification standards. For example, the costs of adjusting the long-term planning of forest management and forest operation procedures, improving the management level of forests, training production personnel, and labor hours and documents to meet the requirements of FSC certification. The cost of FSC certification depends on several factors, such as the certification area, whether the distribution of the location is decentralized or centralized, the distance of the certification company, the number of foreign experts in the certification team, and the profits expected to be earned by the certification company. Generally, the cost of fsc/coc certification is about 300 to 100000, and the cost of certification training is about 20000 to 50000. It depends on the size of the company, sales volume, number of personnel and other factors

fsc certification is not complicated. Printing and packaging enterprises only need to follow the above five steps to do a good job in each link. However, enterprises still need to pay attention to that FSC certification is a proof of ability for enterprises to produce FSC certified products. Passing the FSC certification does not mean that all products produced by the enterprise can be affixed with the FSC certification mark. Only products printed on FSC certified paper can be pasted with the certification mark. If an enterprise pastes the FSC certification mark on products printed on non FSC certified paper, once it is found by the certification authority, it will be suspended from using the FSC certification mark. The author hopes that through this article, domestic printing and packaging enterprises can thoroughly understand the specific process of FSC certification, and hope that the green and environmental protection road of domestic printing and packaging industry can be wider and wider