The impacts of chain of custody certification on the Malaysian wood-based industries / Azharizan Mohd. Norizan

The impacts and beliefs towards forest product certification that is also known as the Chain of Custody were determined. This certification granted by Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) was identified and evaluated through personal interviews, distribution of questionnaire and observation of selected population. The population selected was wood-based industries in Malaysia (certified wood-based industry and non-certified wood-based industry). Certified product, “eco-labeling”, green product or environmental friendly products were a developing phenomenon throughout the world today. Chain-of-custody certification is the procedure for tracking certified wood from the certified forest to the end users. Products from a well-managed wood industries were labeled as certified products under the Forest Stewardship Council logo. Products that bear the FSC label are called certified products. The analysis concentrated on raw material (processing), system at the factory, marketing and existence of FSC in Malaysia. The study found that certified factories in Malaysia were short of certified sawn timber supply and also at the same time lacked of certified products supplier. The implementation of FSC certification by certified factory affected their Standard Operation Procedures (SOP) and most of certified wood-based industry in Malaysia mentioned that their sales remain unchanged after their involvement with FSC scheme. Moreover, result for non-certified factories in Malaysia reported that they knew the FSC and its certification. They were aware of the benefits by having Chain of Custody certification but claimed that the fees imposed by the FSC assessor are expensive. Finally, most of non-certified factories in Malaysia believed that Malaysian would be accepting certified wood products in future.