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Group CoC certification
Group certification is specifically designed for the certification of independent small companies (more than 80% of companies in the Adria-Balkan Region) that, by forming a group, can have easier access to FSC certification by sharing the costs of certification and benefiting from technical support and control provided by a Central Office function.
A company that is a part of the CoC group certification enjoys all the same benefits as a company under a single certification (right to use FSC trademarks, right to label FSC products, right to use FSC claims on the selling documentation, etc.). Additionally, small companies may also discover:
Financial benefits
Managerial benefits
For each company participating in the group certificate a fixed fee of 20USD is determined, and a part of the total fee responding to the aggregate Forest Products Turnover of all companies in the group, calculated according to the policy FSC-POL-20-005 Annual Administration Fee (AAF).
In this way, the total costs for an individual company are reduced compared to the possible costs that such a company would bear by applying for a single certificate.
The group COC certificate is managed by a central office that must be, or act on behalf of the company holding the certificate. In other words, unlike a single certificate where each company - certificate holder has to develop its own CoC management system which may require additional effort and staff, this process is greatly simplified in group certification through the role of a central office. Although each company involved still has responsibilities for maintaining compliance with the relevant FSC standards, a significant part of the work is developed by a central office that manages all companies within the group and thus takes over part of certificate management from the backs of small businesses. The central office also supervises companies within the group. Unlike companies that hold a single certificate, members of a group certificate do not necessarily have to go through an audit process every year.
Eligibility criteria
Groups of independent “small” companies are eligible to be included in the scope of a Group COC certificate if they conform to the following eligibility criteria:
a) each company shall qualify as “small” as defined by:
→ No more than 15 employees (full time equivalent); or
→ No more than 25 employees (full time equivalent) and a maximum total annual turnover of US$ 1,000,000.
b) all companies shall be located in the same country as the company that holds the group CoC certificate.
A small company wishing to become a part of a group CoC certificate might find an already formed group in their country and ask to join, or form a new group. If currently there are no CoC groups in your country, you can choose to form one with at least one more small company from the same country. Maximum number of companies per group is set at 500.
At the moment there are operating CoC groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia. Reach out to them and learn about the conditions to enter.
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Find a CoC group in Bosnia and HerzegovinaDrvo mehanika d.o.o.
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Find a CoC group in CroatiaOBELUS
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Find a CoC group in Slovenia
In Slovenia there are 3 separate CoC groups that are organised based on the companies' activities into sawmills, secondary producers, and traders. All three groups are currently managed by the public forest management company Slovenski državni gozdovi d.o.o.
Join over 50 Slovenian companies that are already taking advantage of the CoC group certification!
"Group of Sawmills""Group of Secondary Producers”"Group of Traders”
Documents
Companies wishing to be part of a CoC group must comply with the requirements set in the main Chain of Custody standard, and also an additional standard FSC-STD-40-003 V2-1 EN Chain of Custody Certification of Multiple Sites.
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