General Requirements for Certification Bodies - FSC-STD-20-001 V5-0 - Certification body requirements

Oct 3, 2026

General Requirements for Certification Bodies defines how FSC certification schemes should be managed by certification bodies, ensuring competence, consistency, impartiality, transparency, rigor, reliability, and credibility for national and international acceptance. It sets conformity expectations aligned with ISO/IEC 17065:2012 and includes FSC-specific and additional requirements. The standard explains how FSC assurance and accreditation are obtained and maintained, including ASI two-tier assurance and risk-based evaluation measures, with guidance for identifying FSC-specific symbols at each requirement.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages52

Reading Time2 h 11 min

AccessFree to download

A. Scope

B. References

C. Terms and Definitions

D. Abbreviations

1. Accreditation process

2. Accreditation scope

3. Conformity with ISO 17065:2012 and relevant accreditation requirements

4. General requirements

4.1 Legal and contractual matters

4.2 Management of impartiality

4.3 Liability and financing

4.4 Non-discriminatory conditions

4.5 Confidentiality

4.6 Publicly available information

5. Structural requirements

5.1 Organizational structure and top management

5.2 Mechanism for safeguarding impartiality

6. Resource requirements

6.1 Certification body personnel

6.2 Resources for evaluation

7. Process Requirements

7.1 General

7.2 Application

7.3 Application review

7.4 Evaluation

7.5 Review

7.6 Certification decision

7.7 Certification documentation

7.8 Directory of certified products

7.9 Surveillance

7.10 Changes affecting certification

7.11 Termination

Standard GENERAL REQUIREMENTS FOR CERTIFICATION BODIES FSC-STD-20-001 V5-0 EN D1-2 | Title: | General Requirements for Certification Bodies | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Dates: | Approval date: [Click to choose a date]
Effective date: [Click to choose a date] | | | | | Timeframes: | Transition end date: [From date to date]
Period of validity: Until replaced or withdrawn | | | | | Contact for
comments: | FSC International – Performance and Standards Unit Adenauerallee 134
53113 Bonn Germany
Phone: +49-(0)228-36766-0
Fax: +49-(0)228-36766-65
Email : [systemdevelopment@fsc.org](systemdevelopment@fsc.org) | | | | | Version control | | | | | | Publication date: | | [Publish Date] | | | | Version | |
Description Publication
Date | | | | V 1-0 | | The standard is developed to specify the general requirements for all bodies operating FSC certification programmes. | | 1 July 2002 | | V 2-0 | | Major revision to include additional requirements related to transparency and stakeholder consultation. | | 1 April 2004 | | V 2-1 | | Minor revision approved by the FSC Board of Directors. | | 1 December 2004 | | V 3-0 | | Major revision approved by the FSC Board of Directors. | | 01 January 2010 | | V 4-0 | | Major revision to ensure conformity with ISEAL Code of Good Practice for Assuring Compliance with Social and Environmental Standards V1-0 and compatibility with ISO/IEC 17065:2012 . | | 15 December 2015 | | V 5-0 | | Major revision to ensure full alignment with ISO/IEC 17065:2012, updated system for the closure of nonconformities and a riskbased approach to apply specified evaluation measures. | | DD Month YYYY | ® 2024 Forest Stewardship Council, A.C. All Rights Reserved FSC® F000100 You may not distribute, modify, transmit, reuse, reproduce, re-post or use the copyrighted materials from this document for public or commercial purposes, without the express written consent of the publisher. You are hereby authorized to view, download, print and distribute individual pages from this document subject for informational purposes only. INTRODUCTION This standard specifies the requirements for certification bodies who intend to or are operating FSC certification schemes. 1 The objective of this standard is to ensure that these schemes are managed in a competent, consistent, impartial, transparent, rigorous, reliable and credible manner, thereby facilitating their acceptance on a national and international basis to further international trade and promote responsible forest management. This standard is developed to ensure conformity with the ISEAL Code of Good Practice for Sustainability Systems and ISO 17065:2012 Conformity assessment—Requirements for bodies certifying products, processes and services ( ISO 17065:2012) . FSC assurance system FSC has an integrated assurance programme that systematically oversees its certification bodies. This is done by FSC’s global assurance provider Assurance Services International (ASI) , as an independent third party. In order to obtain and maintain FSC accreditation , a certification body needs to follow the ASI’s Two Tier Assurance Program and has to fulfil the requirement specified in this standard together with: a) ISO/IEC 17065:2012 Conformity assessment—Requirements for bodies certifying products, processes and services (ISO 17065:2012); b) Requirements specified by ASI and by relevant Participating Accreditation Body (e.g. , National Accreditation Body established under the framework of Regulation (EC) 765/2008 on Requirements for Accreditation and Market Surveillance) . How to read this standard This standard presents the FSC specified requirements for all FSC accredited and applicant certification bodies. These FSC requirements are specified either in addition to or on top of requirements from ISO/IEC 17065:2012 . The user of this standard can identify these two types of requirements with the speci

FAQs

What is the purpose of this standard for FSC certification schemes?

It ensures FSC certification schemes are managed in a competent, consistent, impartial, transparent, rigorous, reliable, and credible manner, supporting acceptance nationally and internationally and promoting responsible forest management.

How does this standard relate to ISO/IEC 17065:2012?

It specifies requirements that are either in addition to or on top of ISO/IEC 17065:2012. FSC-specific and additional requirements can be identified using the specific symbols shown at the end of each requirement.

What assurance and accreditation pathway applies to certification bodies?

To obtain and maintain FSC accreditation, a certification body must follow ASI’s Two Tier Assurance Program and meet the requirements in this standard, together with ISO/IEC 17065:2012 and ASI/participating accreditation body requirements.

Oct 3, 2026

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