The Programme of Endorsement for Forest Certification Schemes (PEFC), is the largest forest certification in the world. The PEFC – an international, non-governmental, non-profit organization – is a platform for the recognition of national certification schemes. It aims to promote sustainable forest management through the adoption of good forestry practices which ensure that the wood, cork and other non-wood forest products are produced in accordance with the best ethical, ecological and social standards.
Sustainable forest management is based on the adoption of a set of sustainability principles and criteria with which indicators are associated – to be monitored by the organization – which provide information about the current state and trends over time of the forest and of its management. At the same time, the organization supports the management of its activities in a system structured around the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) methodology.
PEFC certification of sustainable forest management is an assessment, carried out by an independent third party, of the system’s compliance with the NP4406 standard, at one of three levels of application: individual, regional or group, leading to a certificate being issued.
With this certification, producers provide, in their country or abroad, recognition that their products come from sustainably managed holdings, and can be marketed as PEFC products.
Certification by APCER:
In 2005, APCER was the first Portuguese certification body to be accredited by the Portuguese Institute for Accreditation (IPAC), and recognized by the Council of the Portuguese Forestry Industry (CFFP), for forest and chain-of custody certification in Portugal, with extensive experience at the three levels of certification: individual, group and regional.
