QMI-SAI Global is an
accredited certification body for Forest Management, Chain of Custody and Controlled Wood worldwide by the Accreditation Services International (ASI). QMI-SAI Global is wholly owned by SAI Global a publicly traded company on the Sydney, Australia stock exchange.
QMI-SAI Global obtains its financing from the product system, management systems and training programs it offers to business. The fees charged are price competitive in the market place and depend on factors such as the scope, size and complexity of the FSC project. Based on these factors the fees are calculated using the daily rate times the number of days required to complete the project.
As a certification body QMI-SAI Global has documented procedures for granting, maintaining, extending, suspending and withdrawing certification. For an overview on granting, maintaining and extending certification please refer to the
QMI-SAI Global FSC Certification process.
FSC applicants have rights and duties which are described in QMI-SAI Global Terms and Conditions. These Terms and Conditions are an integral part of any cost proposals submitted to potential applicants. Potential applicants acknowledge their rights and duties by signing the cost proposal prior to any FSC auditing work to be performed. These basic rights and duties are:
- registration services
- fees
- conditions of registration
- suspension of registration
- confidentiality
- intellectual property right
- indemnity
- termination
- appeals
- severability
- communications
- applicable law
- force majeure
- language.
Once registered, a company will receive two separate emails:
- One email, as mentioned below, from our office that includes the certificate and provides the link to our directory of registered companies:
Your organization’s accomplishment will be published in the Directory of QMI-SAI Global Registered Companies on our website: www.qmi-saiglobal.com/qmi_companies
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The second email is sent from the FSC database which contains the information and links to the FSC website for the FSC “Brand Pack”. This email would not be sent until after the FSC certificate is issued.
There are three types of FSC certification available from QMI-SAI Global for organization that manages forest land, produces or sells forest based products.
Forest Management (FM) Certification
Forest management certification involves an inspection of the forest management unit by QMI-SAI Global to check that the forest complies with the internationally-agreed FSC Principles of Responsible Forest Management. The National or Regional Standard is used to evaluate that the organization is in compliance. If no National or Regional Standards are available then the
QMI-SAI Global Generic Standard is used to develop an interim standard. Regional standards for Canada or the USA can be accessed at
FSC Canada web site and
FSC USA website.
If the forest complies with the FSC standards, then QMI-SAI Global issues a certificate for the operation. Certified forest operations can claim the forest products they produce come from a responsibly managed forest.
Current applicants and
Public summaries of forest operations that are certified by QMI-SAI Global are available for anyone to view.
Before a certified forest operation can sell their products as FSC certified, they must also obtain chain of custody certification.
Chain of Custody (COC) Certification
Chain of custody certification provides a guarantee about the production of FSC-certified products. Chain-of-custody is the path taken by raw materials from the forest to the consumer, including all successive stages of processing, transformation, manufacturing and distribution.
From a customer perspective, the FSC label represents a promise that is being made to them. Chain of custody standards are the mechanism FSC has to ensure that 'promise' is delivered.
Operations that have been independently verified for FSC chain of custody certification are eligible to label their products with the FSC logo.
Controlled Wood (CW) Certification
Controlled Wood enable organization to avoid trading in 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.
Once an organization is certified to the controlled wood standard it allows the organization to supply FSC Controlled Wood to FSC certified chain of custody companies for the purpose of mixing with FSC certified material.
To find out which organizations have their land and/or products certified by QMI-SAI Global use the FSC database at
www.fsc-info.org
Dispute Resolution Process : QMI – SAI Global has a process in place for handling complaints, appeals and disputes and is readily available to participants and other interested parties regarding FSC FM and FSC CoC certification decisions.
