CHAIN OF CUSTODY
(CoC)

This is a process of third party audit of timber product manufacturers or exporters to ascertain that the timber products manufactured or exported are sourced from forests which have been awarded the Certificate for Forest Management/Certificate for Forest Plantation Management, and leads to an award of a Certificate for Chain of Custody under the MTCS. The standard used for CoC certification is the PEFC ST 2002:2013, Chain of Custody of Forest Based Products – Requirements.

All applications for chain of custody certification are received and processed by certification bodies (CBs). For list of PEFC-notified CBs operate under the MTCS, please click here.

PREPARATION
BY ORGANISATION

  • Prepare Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) that fulfill the requirements of the CoC standard.
  • Conduct training, internal audit.

ENGAGING CB

  • Management meet to review the finding of internal audit. Minutes of the meeting to be recorded.
  • Formal application by organisation (company) to chosen PEFC-notified Certification Body (CB).
  • Set the date for the main audit.

MAIN AUDIT

  • Audit carried out by CB against the CoC standard.
  • CB prepares Audit Report and submits to organisation for comments.
  • Audit Report together with organisation’s comments submitted to CB’s Certification Committee for decision.
  • If eligible, CB will issue Certificate to applicant (company) against the CoC standard used.
  • Certificate valid for maximum of 5 years.

CERTIFICATION

  • If eligible, CB will issue Certificate to applicant (company) against the CoC standard used.
  • Certificate valid for maximum of 5 years.

SURVEILLANCE

  • Annual surveillance audit carried by CB to ensure continued compliance.
  • CB will check whether any corrective actions the organisation was asked to carry out have been completed.

RE-CERTIFICATION

  • Renewal of Certificate after the initial validity period is nearing expiry requires the organisation to undergo a full audit.
  • CB will re-evaluate the compliance of the organisation with the requirements of the CoC standard.
  • If the organisation meets the CoC requirements, CB will re-issue Certificate with validity period maximum of 5 years.
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