The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) ends disassociation with HS Timber Group

• Forest Stewardship Council endorsed HS Timber Group’s action plan for a secure supply chain
• The company has implemented a complex action plan for a secure and sustainable supply chain that goes far beyond all legal requirements
• HS Timber Group is a responsible player in the wood industry and pioneer in timber traceability systems and actively supports sustainable forestry

Today, 2 November 2021, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC®) announced its decision to end the disassociation with HS Timber Group. A comprehensive analysis of HS Timber Group’s operations by a team of independent auditors led to this decision. HS Timber Group is very pleased about the final outcome of this long and intensive process conducted under public observation.

Since January 2017, HS Timber Group has implemented an action plan for a sustainable and secure supply chain in Romania that exceeds by far all legal requirements. The plan strongly relies on a high degree of transparency. The company has developed a strict Due Diligence System (DDS) based on risk analyses, strict verification of all origin documents as well as on-site checks for the timber it purchases. With all these measures, the company has been responding to FSC's conditions to take further steps to address the challenges associated to its supply chains in Eastern Europe.

In December 2020, FSC authorized Soil Association Certification Limited to carry out an independent third-party verification of HS Timber Group in order to assess the company’s compliance with the FSC Conditions Framework.

The independent verification combined desk assessment analysis, field verification, on-site audits, as well as interviews with HS Timber Group’s employees and a stakeholder consultation process. The report confirms tangible and significant developments in HS Timber Group’s operations, and it recognized the company’s efforts to ensure a sustainable and secure supply chain.

Already in April 2017 the company launched its own state-of-the-art GPS monitoring system Timflow that tracks every truck delivering Romanian saw logs to HS Timber Production sawmills and verifies where the timber comes from (see: www.timflow.com).

Timflow is mandatory for all trucks in order to enter HS Timber Productions' sawmills and it integrates security features such as GPS coordinates of the loading point, the transport’s route, the wood documentation and photos of the truck load at the place of loading – from all angles of the truck. All this information is publicly accessible at all times on www.timflow.com, something that is unique in the European timber industry.

An ongoing dialogue with concerned stakeholders and FSC has been established that concluded now in the board’s decision to end the disassociation of HS Timber Group.