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Supply chain information
From the forest to the final product
In order to confirm that a wood-based product originated in a legally and/or sustainably managed forest it is necessary to know which forest or forests it was sourced from. In most cases there are several stages between the original forest and the final product.
Figure 1. A simple supply chain, from forest to supplier.
For example, the wood in a piece of wooden furniture such as a desk starts out as a tree which is cut and sold to a sawmill. Here it is cut into planks and dried before being sold to a furniture factory. The desk is made in the factory and then sold to a furniture supplier who finally supplies the table to the end user. This is the supply chain and is shown schematically in Figure 1.
In reality, the supply chain is likely to be much more complex because there are often several suppliers at each stage in the chain: every sawmill buys logs from several forests, each furniture factory buys wood from several sawmills and the supplier buys furniture from several factories. Thus, the furniture supplied by a single furniture supplier might contain wood from tens or even hundreds of different forests. This is shown schematically in Figure 2.
Figure 2: A schematic representation of a more complex supply chain where the final supply contains wood from many forest sources
Chain of custody
A chain of custody is the ability to confirm that the wood in a particular piece of furniture (or consignment of plywood, ream of paper, piece of flooring or any other wood product) is from a a legally and/or sustainably managed forest. In order to have chain of custody, it is necessary to know the supply chain for that product and to be able to reliably trace back to the forest source or sources.
Chain of custody involves showing how the wood from the forest or forests passed through each stage of the supply chain and, crucially, demonstrating that the wood was not mixed with wood from other sources at any point. This means that each stage in the chain must have controls in place to ensure that mixing – accidental or intentional – does not occur.
This is achieved through the implementation of systems to control and segregate timber, and record keeping which provide assurance through various forms of documentation.
Preparing supply chain information
When submitting supply chain information, the Category B Checklist 1 should be used for presenting information.
Download Checklist 1 - Supply chain information
A guidance document has been prepared to assist with completing Checklist 1.
