Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®)

This voluntary certification system demonstrates responsible forest management through independently evaluated planning and practice processes.

Forest management certification involves an inspection of the forest management unit by SAI Global to check that the forest complies with the internationally-agreed FSC Principles of Responsible Forest Management. The National Standard is used to evaluate that the organization is in compliance.

If the forest complies with the FSC standards, then SAI Global issues a certificate for the operation. Certified forest operations can claim the forest products they produce come from a responsibly managed forest. Certificate holders and Public summaries of forest operations that are certified by SAI Global are available for anyone to view. www.info.fsc.org

The FSC chain of custody (CoC) is the path taken by products from the forest, or in the case of recycled materials from the moment when the material is reclaimed, to the point where the product is sold with an FSC claim and/or it is finished and FSC labeled. The CoC includes each stage of sourcing, processing, trading, and distribution where progress to the next stage of the supply chain involves a change of product ownership.

The FSC Chain of Custody allows an organization to demonstrate that forest-based materials and products purchased, labeled, and sold as FSC certified originate from well-managed forests, controlled sources, reclaimed materials, or a mixture of these, and any associated claims are legitimate and accurate.

Certification to this standard enables organizations to avoid trading illegally harvested wood, wood harvested in violation of traditional and civil rights, wood harvested in forests where high conservation values are threatened by management activities, wood harvested in forests being converted to plantations or non-forest use, wood from forests in which genetically modified trees are planted.

QCI Global on behalf of FSC will collect the FSC Annual Accreditation Fees (AAF) or other Fees such as setup fee for Certificate Holder portal calculated on a ‘per certificate’ basis. The fees are periodically reviewed and updated by FSC to remain consistent with any new FSC strategy and/or policy. The fees can be accessed on the FSC website.

FSC requires all certification bodies declare their sources of funding to ensure transparency. QCI Global is a privately held company funded exclusively with the fee charged to its clients for the services provided.

All FSC normative documents can be accessed via the FSC Document Center.

Canada & US

QMI-QCI US Limited
20 Carlson Court
Suite 100
New Jersey,
M9W 7K6
United State

QCI Global has in place a complaint/appeal procedure which is described as follows:

Upon receiving a complaint or appeal the relevant details are recorded on a complaint register by the person receiving the complaint or appeal.

The complaint or appeal will be forwarded to the Manager in charge of the FSC Program for resolution.

An initial response, including an outline of the proposed course of action to follow up on the complaint or appeal, will be sent within two (2) weeks of receiving the complaint or appeal.

QCI Global will keep the person or organization informed of progress in evaluating the complaint or appeal.

An investigation of the allegations and all its proposed actions in response to the complaint or appeal will be dealt within three (3) months of the reception date. Upon completion of the investigation a full report of the investigation and its findings are then sent to the person or organization that submitted the complaint or appeal.

QCI Global ensures that the persons engaged in the complaints or appeal handling processes are different from those who carried out the audits, made the certification decisions and the day to day implementation.

If the issue has not been resolved through the full implementation of QCI Global’s procedures the person or organization raising the complaint or appeal can refer their complaint or appeal to FSC’s dispute resolution process.

Proceso de resolución de queja y apelación

Al recibir una queja o apelación, la persona que recibe la queja o apelación registra los detalles relevantes en un registro de quejas.

La queja o apelación se enviará al Gerente a cargo del Programa FSC para su resolución.

Se enviará una respuesta inicial, que incluye un resumen del curso de acción propuesto para dar seguimiento a la queja o apelación dentro de las dos (2) semanas posteriores a la recepción de la queja o apelación.

QCI Global mantendrá informados a la persona o la organización sobre el progreso en la evaluación de la queja o apelación.

Una investigación de las alegaciones y todas sus acciones propuestas en respuesta a la queja o apelación se llevará dentro de los tres (3) meses posteriores a la recepción de la queja o apelación. Una vez completada la investigación, se envía un informe completo de la investigación y sus hallazgos a la persona u organización que presentó la queja o apelación.

QCI Global asegura que las personas involucradas en los procesos de manejo de quejas o apelaciones son diferentes de las personas que llevaron a cabo las auditorías, tomaron las decisiones de certificación y la implementación diaria.

Si el problema no se ha resuelto mediante la implementación completa de los procedimientos de QCI Global, la persona u organización que presenta la queja o apelación puede remitir su queja o apelación al proceso de resolución de disputas del FSC.

Processus de résolution de plainte et appel

La procédure de QCI Global concernant les plaintes/appels est la suivante:

Au moment du dépôt d’une plainte ou d’un appel, la personne qui reçoit la plainte ou l’appel note tous les détails pertinents dans un registre des plaintes.

La personne responsable du traitement des plaintes/appels chez QCI Global transmet la plainte ou l’appel au directeur responsable du programme FSC chez QCI Global afin qu’il procède à sa résolution.

QCI Global envoie une réponse préliminaire dans les deux (2) semaines suivant le dépôt de la plainte ou de l’appel, y compris les grandes lignes du plan d’action proposé pour en assurer le suivi.

QCI Global tiendra le plaignant au courant de l’état d’avancement de l’évaluation de la plainte ou de l’appel.

QCI Global procédera à une enquête sur les allégations et mettra en œuvre toutes les actions proposées dans les trois (3) mois suivant le dépôt de la plainte ou de l’appel. À la fin de l’enquête, QCI Global enverra à la personne ou organisation un rapport complet sur les résultats de l’enquête.

QCI Global s’assure que les personnes engagées dans la résolution de la plainte ou l’appel sont différentes de celles ayant participées à l’audit ou ayant pris la décision de certification.

Si l’enjeu n’a pas été résolu en suivant la procédure de QCI Global la personne ou l’organisation ayant soulevé la plainte ou l’appel à l’opportunité de référer la plainte ou l’appel au processus de résolution des différends de FSC.

Procedura di risoluzione di reclami e ricorsi

QCI Global ha istituito una procedura di reclamo / ricorso che è descritta come segue:

Al ricevimento di un reclamo o di un ricorso, i dettagli rilevanti vengono registrati su un registro dei reclami dalla persona che riceve il reclamo o ricorso.

Il reclamo o il ricorso verrà inoltrato al Gestore responsabile del Programma FSC per la risoluzione.

Entro due (2) settimane dal ricevimento del reclamo o ricorso verrà inviata una risposta iniziale, che includa una descrizione della linea d’azione proposta per dare seguito al reclamo o all’appello.

QCI Global manterrà la persona o l’organizzazione informata dello stato di avanzamento della valutazione del reclamo o del ricorso.

Un’indagine sulle accuse e su tutte le azioni proposte in risposta al reclamo o all’appello verrà trattata entro tre (3) mesi dalla data di ricezione. Al termine dell’indagine, viene inviato alla persona o all’organizzazione che ha presentato il reclamo o il ricorso un rapporto completo dell’indagine e i relativi risultati.

QCI Global garantisce che le persone coinvolte nei processi di gestione dei reclami o dei ricorsi siano diverse da quelle che hanno effettuato gli audit, preso le decisioni di certificazione e l’implementazione quotidiana.

Se il problema non è stato risolto attraverso la piena attuazione delle procedure di QCI Global, la persona o l’organizzazione che presenta il reclamo o il ricorso può inoltrare il proprio reclamo o ricorso al processo di risoluzione delle controversie di FSC.

投诉及申诉解决流程

QCI Global 已制定投诉及申诉流程，具体如下：

接获投诉或申诉后，接收人应将有关详情记录在投诉登记册上。

投诉或申诉将被提交给FSC项目经理进行解决。

在接到投诉或上诉后的两周内，须完成初次回复，包括建议采取的跟进行动计划。

QCI Global将确保向提出申投诉的个人或组织告知后续进展。

自收到申投诉后的三个月内，针对申投诉的内容应完成调查并提出整改行动，完成调查后将生成完整的报告，包括调查结论，该报告将提交提出申投诉的个人或组织。

QCI Global确保与申投诉项目有关的实施审核、证书决策以及相关的日常工作人员不参与申投诉处理过程。

如果提出申投诉的个人或组织对于SAI Global的调查和处理结果不满意，可按FSC的争议解决程序将其上诉至FSC。