Under each forest certification program, qualified, independent certification bodies audit forest planning and on-the-ground practices to ensure conformance with the requirements of the standard and consider environmental, economic and social values.

Download a comparison summary on key elements of the three programs used in British Columbia.

Two independent non-profit global programs – FSC and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certifications (PEFC) – provide assessment and mutual recognition of national forest certification schemes. PEFC has endorsed the CSA and SFI forest certification standards, and FSC International has endorsed the FSC British Columbia Standard.

CSA, FSC and SFI all have chain-of-custody (CoC) standards for customers who want to buy certified forest products. A CoC certification is the mechanism used to track the certified content in a product made with wood from a certified forest.