On
23 May 2013, Greenpeace, WWF Indonesia and the Rainforest Action Network filed
a formal complaint with the Forest Stewardship Council about association with
the APRIL Group. In accordance with the FSC International Dispute Resolution
System, FSC set in motion the process of dealing with the complaint.
However,
on 14 June 2013, the FSC International received from our Asia-Pacific and China
offices written requests by APRIL subsidiaries to withdraw their FSC
certificates, which were all for chain-of-custody. No reason for the withdrawal was offered.
To officially withdraw from FSC, certificate holders must work with their certifying bodies, in this case, Bureau Veritas, SGS Hong Kong and QMI Sai Global. While FSC International acknowledged receipt of the withdrawal letters from APRIL subsidiaries, the actual process to terminate the contractual relationship may take some time.
When the withdrawal of the FSC certificates by APRIL becomes legally effective, there will no longer be any association between FSC and APRIL. Due to this new situation, the complaint process is being put on temporary hold, pending an internal discussion about the appropriate path forward.
FSC International will provide additional information once we decide about next steps.
