PEFC ™ - Chain of Custody (CoC) Certification Overview

• The customer has submitted to voluntary assessment (audit) according to defined criteria (certification standard).
• A certificate is only issued if the assessment (audit) does not reveal any major nonconformities with the requirements of the certification standard.
• The certificates are valid for a restricted period of time. Interested parties can check the validity of individual certificates in the standard owner's certificate database (http://www.pefc.org/find-certified/certified-certificates/advanced-search).
• To maintain certificate validity, the certificate holder must annually complete an announced audit with a positive result.
• Taking into account the standard owner's requirements for the use of the PEFCTM label, certified organisations are entitled to use the PEFCTM label on their products or in their advertising or communications.

The audit is carried out by independent and qualified experts (auditors) appointed according to the criteria of the PEFCTM standard.

The audit is based on document review, employee interviews, on-site inspections and random checks of individual documents, records and receipts.

During the audit, the audit team will check whether the organisation has correctly implemented and applied the requirements of the standard. In particular, the auditors verify whether the organisation:

• holds training courses to ensure correct implementation of the requirements of the standard;
• correctly evaluates its suppliers in terms of the requirements of the standard (e.g. valid certificate, correct PEFCTM statements on invoice and delivery documentation);
• correctly verifies on receipt of goods whether the purchased material is actually identified by the required PEFCTM claim;
• effectively keeps PEFCTM certified goods segregated from non-certified goods in storage and processing to avoid confusion;
• uses correct PEFCTM claims on goods and sales documents (invoices and delivery notes) and uses the PEFCTM label correctly
• keeps a traceable PEFCTM mass balance (balance sheet of certified goods purchased and sold).

• PEFCTM Chain of Custody (CoC) certification does not mean that the organisation exclusively produces and/or sells products in conformity with the PEFCTM standard. Certification only authorises the organisation to sell products with the PEFCTM label. Only the products identified with the PEFCTM label actually fulfil the requirements of the PEFCTM standard.
• The PEFCTM Chain of Custody (CoC) standard does not make or imply any statement about the quality or sustainability of a product or service provided by the certified customer. The certificate only covers the origin of the resources used for products or services identified with the label.
• Certification according to the PEFCTM Chain of Custody (CoC) standard is based on random samples and assessment of the processes in the organisation. Given this, it is impossible to inspect every single product or every single step of production. TÜV SÜD certification thus cannot give a 100% guarantee that all products of a certified company and their labelling are free from nonconformities and that the organisation meets the criteria of the standard at all times, even though this is one of the key objectives of the PEFCTM Chain of Custody (COC) standard.