Forest Stewardship Council

FSC’s Roles and Responsibilities at the national level

Approved by the FSC Board of Directors – November 2009

This document contains FSC’s proposals on roles, rights and responsibilities of FSC National
Initiatives. It has been produced taking into account the different feedback received from the
FSC Network during 2009 and constitute what are, to FSC International’s belief, the proposals
that will have the largest agreement within the Network. FSC International fully recognizes that
the proposals can be improved, but feels that they constitute a solid base on which to build
this new phase in the FSC Network.

Basic framework:
a) different treatment for Working Groups and Contact Persons, recognizing their different
stages of institutional development and accountability

b) WGs and Contact Persons are the front end of FSC at the local level

c) definition of minimum roles

d) definition of no go areas

e) definition of rights and responsibilities

f) revenue sharing based on FM and CoC certificates and strategic investments

1. Minimum roles

a) Representation of FSC’s interests at the national level

- act as ambassadors for FSC
- develop or support the development of national/regional forest management
standards that comply with the FSC’s Principles and Criteria
- participation in local forestry and forest products events
- participation in public policy development processes
- contribute to differentiate FSC from competitor schemes

b) Ensure stakeholder engagement and debate at the national/regional level

- achieve the engagement and support of key stakeholders

c) Provide information on FSC at the local level that is consistent with FSC International,
using FSC’s corporate design and core messages
- act as front end of the FSC system, providing information on FSC certification
in the local language, manage country FSC website, FAQ, news, etc
- promote FSC locally, according to FSC’s communication and marketing strate-
gies
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 Forest Stewardship Council

d) Implement an effective key accounts program in line with the overall key account strat-
egy developed by FSC Global Development
- support the supply and demand for FSC products, according to FSC’s market-
ing strategy
- coordination with key staff at FSC Global Development

e) Managing the FSC membership at the national/regional level, encouraging further

support at the national level

2. Rights

National Initiatives in good standing will have:

a) Right to use the FSC trademarks

b) Right to represent FSC locally

c) Right to locally develop FSC related activities in line with the FSC Global Strategy, with
the exception of the “no go areas” defined

d) Entitled to revenues proportionate to the amount of CoC and FM certificates in the

country

e) Entitled to revenues from FSC International membership in its country, after central
administration discount

f) Right to a prompt response from FSC International on matters which affect the good
standing of the WG

g) Right to participate in the annual election of one NI representative to the FSC Board of
Directors

h) Right to use and adapt communication and marketing tools such as the FSC website,
NI intranet, promotional materials, etc

i) Receive support for participation in FSC General Assemblies

j) Apply for strategic support from FSC International

3. Responsibilities

a) Provision of a simple update on annual activity and future work plan, according to
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FSC’s template, by the end of each calendar year

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b) Annual targets (calendar year) for the amount of resources expected from the revenue
sharing
- submitted by end of November each year
- in line minimum roles for WGs
- customized by each WG according to its reality
- agreed with FSC International
- includes performance indicators
- includes a commitment to engage sufficient competent staff to deliver the work
plan

c) Conduct all its activities in alignment with FSC’s strategies, such as:
- FSC Global Strategy
- FSC Communication Strategy
- FSC Marketing Strategy

d) Correct use of FSC’s trademarks, branding and corporate design

e) Contribute to the practical development of FSC’s policies and standards by providing,

when appropriate, comment and feedback on their ‘workability’

f) Ensure integration of local and international membership

g) Manage FSC members and supporters in its country/region

h) Provide a prompt response to requests from FSC International and Regional Coordina-
tors on matters concerning roles, rights and responsibilities

i) Working Groups shall have a governance system that is similar in structure and deci-
sion making to the one of FSC International

j) Support market intelligence gathering under the coordination of FSC Global Develop-
ment

4. No go areas without prior approval

a) Interpretation of FSC certification requirements, with the exception of indicators to the

FSC Principles and Criteria

b) Sublicensing or commercialization of the FSC trademarks (unless a specific contract is

signed authorizing otherwise)

c) Provide or imply endorsement for companies and individuals (e.g. “FSC partner”),
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other than low-level engagement such as sharing trade-stands

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d) Establishing partnership or collaboration with competitor schemes such as PEFC

5. Revenue sharing

a) In each annual work plan FSC allocates an amount of resources for revenue sharing
with Working Groups and Contact Persons, based on the resources generated from
certificate holders - this shall not be less than 15% of the income generated from the
AAF and this threshold is expected to increase as the FSC system further develops

b) Of the resources allocated to NIs, a flat contribution of 7,500 USD will be given to each
FSC endorsed Working Group, in order to acknowledge their more advanced stage of
institutional development and governance

c) The remaining resources will then be distributed according to following formula

- 1/3 for strategic investments, coordinated by FSC International

- 1/3 based on the FSC FM certification in each country
o 20 % based on area certified
o 13.3% based on number of FM certificates
- 1/3 based on the number of Chain of Custody certificates in each country, with
the following sliding scale to recognize economies of scale:

CoC < 1500 1500 < CoC < 3000 3000 < CoC
Receives 100% Receives 1500 at 100% Receives 1500 at 100%
Remaining at 75% 1500 at 75%
Remaining at 50%

For example, an NI in a country that has 2700 CoC certificates would receive:
- 100% of the value equivalent to 1500 certificates
- 75% of the value equivalent to 1200 certificates - the 1200 certificates would
count as 900 certificates (i.e. 1200 x 75% = 900)

d) The above formula for the distribution of resources will be reviewed every two years to
ensure it remains appropriate

e) For the purposes of revenue sharing the income from certificate holders is considered
to be the AAF

f) The reference for number of certificates and area certified are from the 31st of Decem-
ber of the previous year, which is how the AAF is calculated (e.g. revenue sharing for
2010 is based on 2009 year end numbers)
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g) Resources are transferred to NIs on a quarterly basis, at the end of each quarter

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h) The amount of resources is adjusted following the same rationale as for the AAF ad-
justments to CBs (i.e. the AAF is adjusted each quarter to reflect the certificates that
have been terminated in the period)

i) Resources from countries without NIs will be added to the strategic investments re-
sources

j) In addition to a share of the resources from certificate holders, NIs will also receive re-
sources coming from members and supporters of FSC International, after the discount
of a central administration fee

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