The PEFC United Kingdom Certification Scheme for Sustainable Forest Management (the Scheme) was first adopted by PEFC UK Ltd in 2001 and then subsequently endorsed by PEFC Council in 2002.

Since 2002, PEFC UK has incorporated a number of minor amendments to the original Scheme,the most notable of which have been the adoption of the PEFC Council Annex 4: Chain of Custody of Forest Based Products – Requirements, which was officially adopted by the PEFC Council General Assembly in October 2004 and further amended in June 2005 and the revised UK Woodland Assurance Standard, with a publication date of 1st November 2006.

As the original Scheme expires in 2007, the Scheme has now been completely re-drafted to meet current PEFC Council requirements, as detailed in Annex 3: Basis for Certification Schemes and their Implementation, which defines the minimum requirements a Scheme shall meet and rules for its implementation. This Annex was adopted by the General Assembly of the PEFC Council in November 2002 and amended in October 2003, October 2004 and October 2005.

The revised Scheme is based on two national United Kingdom published documents namely, the United Kingdom Forestry Standard (the Government’s Approach to Sustainable Forestry), which was revised in April 2004, and the Forest Management Certification Standard, which is known as the United Kingdom Woodland Assurance Standard (UKWAS) (the Standard). UKWAS has also
undergone a major review and thorough public consultation exercise during 2005 and 2006. The revision of the document has a publication date of 1st November 2006.

The Scheme is based on the subsidiary principle of the PEFC Council (Programme for Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes) regarding the establishment of national certification schemes and will permit forest producers in the UK to comply with minimum requirements ensuring sustainable forest management.

Its aim is to provide consumers with guarantees that the products with PEFC certificates are derived from forest management wherein there is consistent application of principles of sustainability founded on three basic pillars of social, environmental and economic understanding.

Within this setting, the PEFC UK Scheme has been constructed on the basis of the “Pan-European Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management” and the “Pan-European Operational Level Guidelines for Sustainable Forest Management” adopted as Resolution L2 at the 3rd Ministerial Conference for the Protection of Forests in Europe.