PEFC UK requires that all external forest management and chain of custody certification audits will be carried out by third party, independent certification bodies.

These bodies will in turn be required to have been accredited by accreditation bodies operating to internationally accepted standards (ISO Guides 61, 62 & 65) and are members of the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) or substantively equivalent bodies, as set out in PEFC Council Annex 6: Certification and Accreditation Procedures. An example will be the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS), the national accreditation body for the United Kingdom.