Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) - FSC Trademark Notice

The Trademark Department of the accreditation branch at FSC is responsible for all trademark infringement inquiries and investigations. For information regarding the current trademark investigation on APP Canada or to report other possible FSC trademark abuses, please contact the Trademark Department at trademark@accreditation-services.com.

FSC International Notice, FSC disassociation from Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), November 16th 2007

The issue of companies certifying some forest areas and/or chain of custody operations for compliance with FSC requirements while at the same time engaging in unacceptable forest practices in uncertified areas has been debated within the FSC system for many years. The key question debated by FSC’s constituents is whether a company should be able to enjoy the benefits of using the FSC good name and trademarks for promotion of their activities and products while some part of their operations continue to violate the very fundamentals FSC stands for.

This issue has been known by some in FSC as partial certification and is related to concerns that certain companies may only be interested in associating themselves with FSC in order to greenwash their image in the marketplace, where the FSC name has gained a strong reputation for credibility and transparency. It is recognized that companies could do so by certifying to FSC standards either some of their manufacturing operations or some portion of their forests while continuing to manage the rest in unacceptable ways.

Throughout the years FSC has attempted to resolve this issue through different policies related to forest management certification. We believe that for the most part these strategies have been successful and that the vast majority of companies have participated in FSC with an uncompromised and credible commitment to socially beneficial, environmentally appropriate and economically viable forest stewardship. We further note that we strongly support companies committed to the goals of FSC and engaged in credible phased approaches to achieving certification.

However, we noted that even with our policy structure in place it remained possible for companies to participate in the FSC system while simultaneously engaging in unacceptable forestry practices. As a result, in March 2007, the FSC Board of Directors mandated the FSC International Center to follow a new and broader approach, which entailed the development of criteria for the association of any third party with FSC’s good name and trademarks.

This new approach recognizes that it may never be possible to develop a policy framework that will cover all eventualities in forest management and industries worldwide. Moreover, attempting to address in a policy approach each and every possible construct and situation in forest management and production would undoubtedly result in complexities which would unduly burden the vast majority of credible and serious businesses. Businesses intending to use FSC’s good name to greenwash unacceptable practices would likely find loop holes even in the most intricate policy framework. Lastly, FSC remains committed to developing credible standards to ensure responsible forestry, rather than responding through the development of standards to a few isolated players that try to inappropriately capitalize on FSC’s good name and trademarks.

A draft policy proposal incorporating this new approach is currently under consultation. The draft policy, entitled Policy for the Association with FSC (FSC-POL-20-002 V3-0), is expected to provide FSC with the necessary mechanisms to effectively deal with and prevent the issue of potential misuse of FSC’s good name and trademarks, and greenwashing by companies with a proven record of engaging in unacceptable forestry practices.

Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), of the Sinar Mas Group, is one example of a company that has been consistently associated with issues such as the destruction of tropical rainforests in Indonesia and has exhibited repeated documented failure to meet public commitments to cease such activities. Thus, it was concluded that any association between FSC and APP or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates would not be acceptable and would cause negative impacts to the thousands of companies who have credibly participated in the FSC system.

Following the new approach on this issue, the FSC Board of Directors decided that FSC should not allow any association of its name with APP or any company in which APP is a majority shareholder, unless APP completely and immediately stops converting natural forests and provides documented evidence of that cessation.

The new draft policy under consultation is expected to provide a clearer framework for dealing with similar cases, ensuring consistency and transparency in decision making on the association of a given company with FSC’s good names and trademarks. Given the importance and impact of this policy FSC strongly encourages comments on the draft under consultation. Comments on the draft policy should be sent to Mr. Andre de Freitas at a.freitas@fsc.org until the 18th of November 2007.

Please visit FSC International’s website for a copy of the draft policy under consultation:
www.fsc.org/en/work_in_progress/other_docs