On 11 July 2017, FSC Director General Kim Carstensen approved the revision of the standard (see note). A review found short-term improvements that could be made while preparing for a more comprehensive revision. This is the first of two standards that have been identified and scheduled for review between 2017 and 2020 by the smallholders implementation project team, which is entrusted to carry out the activities related to smallholders set out in the FSC Global Strategy 2015–2020. As a whole, and within the context of the FSC normative framework, this project team aims to:
- Explore existing flexibility in the FSC policy and standards system (i.e. the FSC normative framework)
- Revise relevant standards for clarification and simplification of requirements related to smallholders
- Ensure smallholder representation in processes related to policy and standards
- Explore new areas for smallholders (e.g. contractors' certification or a simplified smallholder standard).
A separate team is taking a detailed look at the FSC portfolio of normative documents to ensure that there are no inconsistencies.
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding the group certification standard revision process, please contact Joachim Meier-Dörnberg at j.meier-doernberg@fsc.org. For questions regarding the smallholder implementation project team's activities related to the normative framework, please contact team lead, Vera Santos at v.santos@fsc.org.
Note
The Director General has full authority to approve "small changes to technical normative documents and for aligning normative documents with approved changes in associated normative documents" under the provisions of Annex 4 of FSC-PRO-01-001 V3-1 The Development and Revision of FSC® Normative Documents.