Austria has launched a new action plan for green public procurement that stresses the importance of certification to get proper assurance for the responsible origin of wood products.
For most wood-based products - ranging from virgin paper to office utensils, flooring, baseboards and construction materials – legality assurance is the baseline requirement. Assurance of sustainable forest management is required ‘if possible’. FSC and PEFC certification and FLEGT licenses are the only options specified for assurance of sustainable forestry.
For furniture, only legality assurance is required. The Austrian action plan mentions that legal origin may be ensured via voluntary traceability systems. In contrast with the Danish procurement policy, the Austrian policy does not refer to well-established third-party timber legality verification schemes, although these are obvious solutions for credible legality assurance.
The focus on FSC and PEFC certification for proof of responsible forest management is similar to the approach adopted by several other European public timber procurement policies, including e.g. the UK, Denmark, and the Netherlands.
RELATED STORIES
Recognition for the VLC scheme by the Danish government (8/6 2010)
Danish public bodies demand certified timber (21/1 2009)
The UK re-endorses FSC and PEFC for public timber procurement (7/1 2009)
EU countries committed to buying green (16 December 2008)
The Netherlands approves FSC worldwide and two national PEFC schemes in timber procurement (17 November 2008)
Social issues - a challenge in public timber procurement (20 April 2008)