In April 2014, Resolute’s FSC forest management certificate for the Caribou Forest (RA-FM/COC-004570) in Canada was audited by the Rainforest Alliance, as part of an annual assessment to ascertain if the management of the forests continued to adhere to FSC’s standards.
According to FSC’s principles, all audit reports must be made public as verification. However, Resolute gained a legal injunction against any communication of the final audit report for the Caribou Forest. On December 18, 2014, FSC issued a new Advice Note (FSC-ADV-20-01-01) to prevent situations where an FSC certificate is upheld without having a basis in a valid certification decision by an independent third-party certification body.
Although the legal injunction has not been resolved, all FSC certificates have a term of 5 years prior to renewal or expiration. In the absence of any renewal or transfer process, the Caribou Forest certificate has expired and thus terminated. For any future re-certification of the Caribou Forest, a full main evaluation assessment would be necessary.