This is to inform that the Malaysian Criteria and Indicators for Forest Management Certification (Natural Forest) or in short the MC&I(Natural Forest) has been adopted by the MTCC Board of Trustees at its Forty-Ninth Meeting held on 6 December 2011 as the standard for the certification of natural forest at the forest management unit (FMU) level under the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme (MTCS).

The MC&I(Natural Forest), which is the outcome of the review process of the MC&I(2002) led by a 15-member multi-stakeholder Standards Review Committee (SRC), will supersede the MC&I(2002) which has been the standard used for the certification of natural forests in Malaysia under the MTCS since October 2005.

The review of the MC&I(2002) is in line with the international norm and the standard setting process under the MTCS where the certification standard used is to be reviewed at least every five years to ensure continuous improvement.

In this connection, the review of the MC&I(2002) has been conducted in an inclusive, participatory and transparent manner, with the draft standards being subjected to scrutiny and deliberations through three meetings of the SRC, three meetings of the Panel of Experts (PoE), three regional consultations, as well as three public comment periods, over the period from April 2009 to September 2011. The milestones in the review of the MC&I(2002) resulting in the development of the MC&I(Natural Forest) are as shown in Table 1 below.

In line with the requirements regarding the implementation of changes to the MTCS, a transition period not exceeding one year is required to be provided to all the affected parties prior to the use of this new standard. All certificate holders and notified certification bodies have been informed that the MC&I(Natural Forest) will become mandatory to be used for the certification of natural forest under the MTCS beginning 1 January 2013. However, for those FMUs which are to be audited during the one-year transition period in 2012, the FMUs concerned have the option to choose either to be audited against the MC&I(2002) or the MC&I(Natural Forest).

As the Secretariat for the review process, MTCC would like to thank all the stakeholder groups, SRC and PoE for the advice, support and inputs provided which has resulted in the development of the MC&I(Natural Forest).

Table 1:  Milestones on the Review of the MC&I(2002)

and the Development of the MC&I(Natural Forest)