Steps for Chain-of-Custody Certification

Before a company can become certified, your system must be able to identify traceability of product from purchasing to receiving, production, delivery, and sales. This is accomplished by publishing procedures (furnished on disc by PFC) employee training and an external audit. PFC’s Chain-of-Custody certifies printing and industry related companies who handle product harvested from certified forests. PFC also provides group and multi-site certification.

Print Industries Forestry Certification Council, Inc. (PFC) only certifies graphic arts companies to “Chain of Custody” for forestry certification of paper products. It is the same as an FSC or SFI certification, only industry specific. The fees are half of what others charges plus a 15% discount for PIA members. A typical company spends somewhere around $3200.00 to $4,000.00 for the first audit and each follow up audit for the next five years. PFC charges $2000.00 for the first audit and follow-up audits at $1500.00. Those are savings that stay in your pocket. There are also restrictions on the logo colors that FSC imposes. Not the case with PFC. The certification process, auditing and documentation is the same as FSC. All audits are governed by the Standard 40-004v2 Chain-of-Custody certification.

Print Industries Forestry Certification Council, Inc. (PFC)

What is PFC?
The Print Industries Forestry Certification Council (PFC) was established as a print industry implementation and certification body developing standards for responsible stewardship of the world’s forest products. Organizations that bear the PFC trademark are recognized for their support of responsible forest management.

What is PFC forestry certification?
It’s the process of identifying paper products that are managed according to a set of agreed upon standards. Graphic Arts Companies that meet these criteria for responsible management are granted PFC Chain-of-Custody certification.

Why is PFC certification important?
PFC certification allows you to provide your clients with paper products that can be traced from the forest to the consumer. Both you, and your client, have the opportunity to practice environmental stewardship by electing to produce products using certified paper.

Why is PFC certification the better choice?
There are a number of forestry certification companies out there, but none are industry specific. All trace their roots to the forestry industry and don’t address the concern of the graphic communication industry. They are expensive, time consuming, logo restrictive, have administrative fees, and have little or no real benefit or return on your investment.

As a PFC certified company you and your client can rest assured knowing an independent audited system is in place to verify the sourcing and traceability of the paper product. The system ensures that the paper product originated from responsibly managed certified forests and is traceable from origin to final delivery.