Holzindustrie Schweighofer responds to FSC's probation with new forest management in Romania

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Schweighofer/Fordaq
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Holzindustrie Schweighofer has released a report on the 19th of January 2016, showing how the company has improved its company policy regarding a more sustainable and comprehensible supply chain on its wood sourcing.

The report comes as a response to the FSC's recent decision to place the Schweighofer Group on probation for possible disassociation for involvement in irregularities and illegalities in its timber trade operations and in illegal logging by its Romanian forest land enterprise.Under probation, the Schweighofer Group was required to meet a number of conditions prior to the next meeting of the FSC International Board of Directors to be held from 7th to 10th February 2017. 

Thus, Schweighofer has developed a new GPS tracking system for its direct timber deliveries which will be operated by one of Romania’s major mobile network providers. Suppliers and transporting companies will have to present the route taken by the trucks in addition to all documents requested by law/regulations/standards. Also, all the datasets for each arriving load will be published on the website www.timflow.com once the system is fully operational (scheduled for Q1/17).

As part of meeting the FSC requirments, Schweighofer has made additional investments to adapt its scanning system as to fully comply with the strict technical requirements existing in the Romanian legislation regarding the measuring of logs. Due to a zero tolerance policy of the Romanian legislation, volumes exceeding the Aviz have to be considered as illegal although they might have been legally harvested.

The Austrian leader in the wood processing industry in Europe also claims to have improved its stakeholder consultation process, along with a new policy for the sourcing of wood raw materials in eight languages. As a response to the Finnish consulting firm Indufor which confirmed the company's due diligence to exceed statutory provisions and to fully comply with the main certification schemes, Schweighofer Group will have a full review of its sourcing structures and processes done each year by external experts and will publicly announce the findings.

Morerover, as the company's report shows, Schweighofer hired new certification officers in the recent months and suspended suppliers due to violation of the purchasing policy. The company is also negotiating with companies that provide satellite monitoring for forests as to be able to automatically recognize deforestation and create a high risk map.

According to the Schweighofer Group report, when it comes to illegal timber, one of the key problems is the recognition of single logs in different links of the supply chain. The Austrian company is in contact with various companies in order to develop a robust and industrially viable system.

A report by an independent complaints panel appointed in March 2016 that has conducted an in-depth investigation of the allegations against Schweighofer Group’s forestry related business operations in Romania showed that there is ‘clear and convincing evidence ’ that the Schweighofer Group has been involved in significant irregularities and illegalities in its timber trade operations in Romania, and in the harvesting of timber from forest land that was purchased under a dubious legal framework.

The investigation led the complaints panel to conclude that the Schweighofer Group has violated the Policy for Association by its ongoing involvement over an extended period of time in illegal logging and the trade of illegal timber.

The full report here

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