The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) has intensified its efforts to protect the integrity of certified wood supply chains after blocking four additional certificate holders linked to false claims involving birch plywood. The latest enforcement action reflects a broader campaign to identify weaknesses in FSC-certified trade following growing concerns over the movement of high-risk birch products through international markets.<\/p>\n
The four organisations were blocked in May 2026 following an investigation that uncovered false FSC claims, misleading reporting and repeated failures to cooperate with certification oversight. The decision follows an earlier enforcement round in October 2025, when four other certificate holders were also suspended as part of the same integrity initiative.<\/p>\n
Investigation exposes weaknesses in reporting<\/strong><\/p>\n The latest sanctions stem from FSC's ongoing transaction verification programme, which examines whether companies' declared purchases and sales correspond with certified material flows.<\/p>\n According to FSC, several companies sold birch plywood carrying FSC claims while simultaneously reporting to their certification bodies that they had recorded no sales of FSC-certified products during the relevant reporting periods. Such discrepancies prevented certification bodies from effectively monitoring material flows and raised concerns that uncertified products could have entered certified supply chains.<\/p>\n The investigation also identified companies that repeatedly failed to provide transaction records requested by auditors, refused access during verification activities or ceased responding altogether to certification bodies and Assurance Services International (ASI), the independent organisation responsible for overseeing FSC's assurance system.<\/p>\n Four companies removed from the FSC system<\/strong><\/p>\n Among the companies blocked is Xuzhou Discover International Import & Export, which FSC said marketed non-conforming birch plywood despite declaring no FSC sales between 2020 and July 2024.<\/p>\n Xuzhou Huayu Wood Industry was also removed from the certification system after investigators concluded that it had sold non-conforming birch plywood while similarly reporting no FSC sales during the transaction verification period covering July 2022 to June 2023.<\/p>\n A third company, Xuzhou Shelter Import & Export, was blocked after allegedly supplying plywood carrying false FSC claims while repeatedly failing to cooperate with auditors. FSC said the company declined to submit transaction data requested during the investigation, restricted access during an ASI assessment and later became unreachable to both its certification body and ASI.<\/p>\n The fourth organisation, Shelter Forest International Acquisition, was blocked after FSC determined that it knowingly purchased products carrying false FSC claims and subsequently failed to provide documentation requested during the investigation. The company's certificate was ultimately terminated by its certification body.<\/p>\n Verification programme continues to expand<\/strong><\/p>\n The investigation forms part of FSC's wider transaction verification programme for birch plywood, launched by ASI in 2023 following increasing concerns over the integrity of Eurasian birch supply chains.<\/p>\n The initial exercise analysed transaction data submitted by 78 certificate holders, covering trade between July 2022 and June 2023. While the first phase concentrated primarily on traders and downstream buyers, investigators later expanded the review to include suppliers, allowing auditors to examine the movement of materials throughout a larger portion of the supply chain.<\/p>\n A second verification programme launched in 2024 focused on certificate holders physically handling certified birch wood panels within the Eurasian region. According to FSC, the findings reinforced concerns identified during the earlier investigation and supported additional enforcement measures.<\/p>\n Greater transparency and stricter oversight<\/strong><\/p>\n Alongside enforcement actions, FSC has introduced new measures intended to strengthen confidence in certified wood markets and reduce opportunities for fraudulent claims.<\/p>\n One of the most significant changes is the expansion of information available through FSC Public Search, enabling buyers to identify certificate holders that have reported no FSC sales during a given reporting period. The additional transparency is intended to help companies identify inconsistencies between supplier declarations and commercial transactions before placing orders.<\/p>\n FSC has also introduced mandatory annual audits for certificate holders in China handling solid wood, veneer, wood-based panels and FSC-certified bamboo products, including companies that declare no purchases or sales of certified materials. The requirement reflects a more risk-based approach to certification oversight in product groups considered particularly vulnerable to fraud.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) has intensified its efforts to protect the integrity of certified wood supply chains after blocking four additional certificate holders linked to false claims involving birch plywood.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":99270,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5204],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n