Approved Traceability Standards
Principle: The key component of any traceability standard is that the manufacturer shall be capable of assessing within the traceability program the risk of illegal sourcing associated with the species and country of harvest and be willing to exercise due care as required by law.
All outsourcing activities shall be within the scope of the organization’s traceability program, including a description of the activities and potential risks, documented procedures for implementing the Responsible Source program, internal audits where applicable, and management review.
Approved Traceability Standards for Responsible Source include:
Certified Source Chain of Custody Standards – FSC, SFI, PEFC, etc.Traceability Requirements for Responsible Source – Version 2.3 – 2021
The Traceability Requirements, developed by a task group under the Oregon Department of Forestry, outline a traceability plan intended for adoption by third party agencies to support claims for responsible sources consistent with ASTM D7612.Requirements for Traceability Audits – Preliminary Guidance for Certification Bodies and Auditors – Version 2.3 – 2021
This is a companion document to Traceability Requirements for Responsible Source.The users of these traceability procedures would be audited against the traceability requirements by an accredited Certification Body (CB) before making a claim regarding their products as being from “Responsible Source”. This document outlines requirements for audit firms and auditors, and provides a preliminary audit guidance.
Notification is a Key Element of Traceability:
- Regulatory BMPs require government notification by the landowner of an intended harvest operation.
- The government assigns a notification reference number to the harvest operation.
- Responsible Source manufacturers require the notification number to be listed on their timber sale invoices. The notification number helps to determine if the timber purchase came from Responsible Source forests (or not).
- Timber purchasing volumes are aggregated by the manufacturer to determine a percentage Responsible Source claim for their wood product(s).