SFI 2022 CHAIN OF
CUSTODY STANDARD
SECTION 4
forests.org
PART 1: GENERAL 2
PART 2: PHYSICAL SEPARATION METHOD 3
PART 3: PERCENTAGE METHOD AND CREDIT METHOD (MIXED INPUTS) 3
PART 4: IDENTIFICATION OF THE ORIGIN 6
PART 5: SALE OF CERTIFIED CONTENT PRODUCTS 6
PART 6: REPORTING REQUIREMENTS 7
PART 7: DUE DILIGENCE SYSTEM TO AVOID CONTROVERSIAL SOURCES 7
PART 8: MINIMUM MANAGEMENT SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS 9
PART 9: OUTSOURCING AGREEMENTS 10
APPENDIX 1: CALCULATION OF THE CERTIFICATION PERCENTAGE 11
SFI 2022 CHAIN OF CUSTODY STANDARD
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1.1 SCOPE
What the Chain-of-Custody Standard Does
The SFI 2022 Chain-of-Custody Standard is an accounting system that tracks forest ber content through production and manufacturing to the end
product. Companies can use Chain-of-Custody certication to track and communicate how much of their product comes from certied lands, certied
ber sourcing, recycled content and/or non-certied forest content.
What the Chain-of-Custody Standard Covers
The SFI 2022 Chain-of-Custody Standard applies to any organization that sources, processes, manufactures, handles, trades, converts, or prints
forest-based products.
A wood producer delivering roundwood or eld chips direct from the forest to a manufacturing facility does not need to be certied to the SFI 2022
Chain-of-Custody Standard.
An organization (such as a warehouse or distribution center) that passes on SFI certied material/product does not need an SFI Chain-of-Custody system
provided the SFI certied material/product is in its original packaging and the material/product is identied with an SFI 2022
Chain-of-Custody on-product label.
Geographic Application of the Chain-of-Custody Standard
The SFI 2022 Chain-of-Custody Standard applies to any organization globally.
1.2 ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS
Primary producers must also conform to the SFI 2022 Fiber Sourcing Standard.
Primary and secondary producers with a valid SFI 2022 Chain-of-Custody certicate can use their Chain-of-Custody procedures to make SFI-certied
sourcing claims or apply the SFI certied sourcing label provided they satisfy the requirements of Part 3: Calculating the Certied Sourcing Claim in the
SFI 2022 Certied Sourcing Standard.
Use of the SFI On-Product Labels and claims shall follow Section 6 — Rules for Use of SFI On-Product Labels and Off-Product Marks as well as
ISO 14020:2000.
Primary and secondary producers with a valid SFI 2022 Chain of Custody certicate can use their Chain-of-Custody procedures to make PEFC chain of
custody claims or apply the PEFC on-product logo provided they comply with the applicable requirements in PEFC ST 2002:2020 – Chain of Custody of
Forest and Tree Based Products - Requirements and PEFC ST 2001:2020 - PEFC Trademark Rules.
1.3 REFERENCES
This standard incorporates, by dated or undated reference, provisions from other publications. These normative and informative references are cited at the
appropriate places in the text and the publications are listed hereafter. For dated and undated references, the latest edition of the publication applies.
Normative References
i. ISO/IEC 17065:2012 — Conformity Assessment — Requirements for bodies certifying product, process, and services
ii. ISO/IEC Guide 2:2004 Standardization and related activities — General vocabulary
iii. ISO 14020:2000 Environmental labels and declarations — General principles
iv. Section 2 — SFI 2022 Forest Management Standard
v. Section 3 — SFI 2022 Fiber Sourcing Standard
vi. Section 4 — SFI 2022 Chain-of-Custody Standard
vii. Section 5 — SFI 2022 Certied Sourcing Standard
viii. Section 6 — Rules for Use of SFI-On-Product Labels and Off-Product Marks
ix. Section 8 — SFI Policies
x. Section 10 — Appendix 1: Audits of Multi-Site Organizations
xi. Section 12 — Public Inquiries and Ofcial Complaints
xii. Section 14 — SFI Denitions
For the purposes of this standard, the relevant denitions given in ISO/IEC Guide 2:2004 and ISO 9000:2005 apply, together with the denitions in the
SFI Denitions (Section 14).
GENERAL
PART 1: GENERAL
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Informative References
i. ISO 9000:2005 Quality management systems — Fundamentals and vocabulary
ii. ISO 9001:2015 Quality management systems — Requirements
iii. ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Management Systems — Specication with guidance for use
iv. PEFC ST 2002:2020 Chain-of-Custody of Forest and Tree -Based Products — Requirements, February 2020
v. PEFC ST 2001:2020 - PEFC Trademark Rules, February 2020
vi. Section 7 — Guidance to SFI 2022 Standards
vii. Section 10 — SFI 2022 Audit Procedures and Auditor Qualications and Accreditation
PART 2: PHYSICAL SEPARATION METHOD
2.1 GENERAL REQUIREMENTS FOR PHYSICAL SEPARATION
2.1.1 The Certied Organization applying the physical separation method shall ensure that the certied forest content is separated or
controlled to ensure it is not mixed with or replaced by uncertied content.
2.1.2 The Certied Organization whose certied forest content and recycled content inputs are not mixed with other raw material, should
use physical separation as the preferred option.
2.1.3 An Certied Organization that makes SFI claims or uses the SFI On-Product Label in association with non-timber forest products
shall apply the physical separation method to ensure non-timber forest products are sourced from SFI certied lands.
2.2 SEPARATION OF THE CERTIFIED CONTENT
2.2.1 Certied content shall remain clearly identiable throughout the entire sourcing production, trading and sales process. This shall be
achieved by:
a. physical separation in terms of production and storage space or
b. physical separation in terms of time; or
c. permanent identication of the certied content.
2.2.2 Verication that certied content is controlled during the production, trading, and sales process to ensure it is not replaced by
uncertied material.
3.1 GENERAL REQUIREMENTS FOR MIXED INPUTS
The percentage-based method applies to Certied Organizations with facilities where certied content is mixed with non-certied forest inputs that
cannot be clearly identied in the output products. Where certied content is mixed with non-certied forest inputs that cannot be clearly identied in
the output products, Certied Organizations shall use either the Percentage Method or the Credit Method.
3.2 DEFINITION OF THE PRODUCT GROUP
3.2.1 The Certied Organization shall implement the requirements for the Chain-of-Custody process of this standard for the specic
product group.
3.2.2 The Certied Organization shall identify its product group(s) based on the following criteria:
a. raw material included in the products covered by the product group;
b. production site at which the products covered by the product group have been produced;
c. time period over which the products covered by the product group have been produced, sold or transferred.
PART 3: PERCENTAGE METHOD AND CREDIT METHOD (MIXED INPUTS)
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3.2.3 The product group shall be associated with (i) a single product or (ii) a group of products, which consist of the same or similar input raw
material based on, for example, species, sort or substitutability within products (e.g., SPF lumber contains multiple tree species but
may be treated as a single product group).
3.2.4 The Certied Organization shall identify an entity within the organization for which the product group is dened and only products
produced or controlled by that entity shall be included within the product group. The product group may cover several sites.
Note: The entity may be a standalone manufacturing facility, a forest contractor with multiple harvest sites, a trader or distributor
with multiple suppliers, a remanufacturing facility supplied by multiple primary producers or a centralized sales department within an
organization with responsibility for multiple manufacturing units.
3.2.5 For credibility purposes the maximum claim period is three months.
3.2.6 The Certied Organization shall identify all products included in the product group covered by the Chain-of-Custody claim period so
it is possible to determine the product group to which the products belong. The identier can be a unique number or a name that all
products within the product group belong to.
Note: Physical on-product identication of the product group is not required if the certication percentage is applied to sold or
transferred products as the product group identication is evident from the sale or delivery documents. However, products that carry the
SFI on-product label must be accompanied by the associated claim statement.
3.3 CALCULATION OF THE CERTIFIED PERCENTAGE
3.3.1 The Certied Organization shall calculate the certication percentage separately for each claim period according to the
following formula:
Pc = Vc × 100
Vc+Vo
Pc Certication percentage
Vc Certied content
Vo Other raw material (SFI certied sourcing)
Note: When making claims about pre- and post-consumer recycled content, both can count as certied content and the amount must
be disclosed to the customer. For organizations choosing not to count pre- and post-consumer recycled content, the pre- and post-
consumer recycled content is neutral and shall not be included in the calculation of the certied content percentages in Chain-of-
Custody tracking.
3.3.2 The Certied Organization shall calculate the certication percentage based on a single measurement unit used for all raw material
covered by the calculation. The Chain-of-Custody shall use only ofcial conversion ratios and methods. If a suitable ofcial conversion
ratio does not exist, the organization shall dene and use a reasonable and credible internal conversion ratio.
Note: The Conversion Factor/Ratio is calculated by dividing the output (volume or weight) by the input (volume or weight) and is applied
to each individual input component of a product group.
3.3.3 If the procured raw material includes only a proportion of certied content, then only the quantity corresponding to the actual
certication percentage claimed by the supplier can enter the calculation formula as certied content. The rest of that raw material shall
enter the calculation as other raw material.
3.3.4 The Certied Organization shall calculate the certication percentage either as a simple or rolling percentage. Refer to Appendix 1 of
this document for the denitions of simple and rolling percentage calculations.
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3.3.5 The Certied Organization applying the simple certication percentage shall base the calculation of Pc (the certication percentage)
for each product group on the gures for Vc (certied content) and Vo (other raw material) for that specic product group. As a result,
it is necessary for the organization applying this method to know the percentage of certied content before any product of the product
group is sold or transferred.
The claim period shall not exceed three months of production.
3.3.6 The Certied Organization applying the rolling percentage shall base the calculation of Pc (the certication percentage) for each
product group and claim period on the gures for Vc (certied content) and Vo (other raw material) for a specied number of prior
claim period.
The time period covered by the specied number of prior claim periods shall not exceed 12 months.
3.4 PERCENTAGE METHOD
3.4.1 The Certied Organization applying the percentage method can claim all the products covered by the claim period, provided that the
percentage of certied content is clearly communicated. To use the SFI label, the organization must meet a 70% certied content
threshold. If recycled content is not used, then the label must just state, “Promoting Sustainable Forestry.”
3.4.2 If an Certied Organization falls below the 70% certied content threshold, the organization shall be transparent and communicate
the actual percentage of certied content.
3.5 CREDIT METHOD
3.5.1
The Certied Organization shall apply the credit method for a single claim. The organization receiving a single delivery of material
with more than one claim relating to the category of origin shall either use it as a single inseparable claim (e.g., SFI/PEFC certied
content) or shall only use one from the received claims (SFI or PEFC certied) for calculating the credits. The credits shall be
distributed to the output products from the credit account in a way that all products sold as certied are sold as 100% certied.
3.5.2 The Certied Organization shall recognize credits in a single measurement unit used for all raw material inputs and shall enter the
credits into the credit account. The credit account may be established for individual product types of the product group or for the
whole product group where the same measurement unit is applied to all product types.
3.5.3 The Certied Organization shall calculate the credits using either:
a. certication percentage (clause 3.3) and volume of output products (clause 3.5.4) or
b. input material (certied forest content / pre-consumer recycled / post-consumer recycled) and input/output ratio (clause 3.5.5).
3.5.4 The Certied Organization applying the certication percentage shall calculate the credits by multiplying the volume of output
products of the product group by the certied percentage.
3.5.5 The Certied Organization must demonstrate a veriable ratio between the input material and output products. The credits may be
calculated directly from the input certied material by multiplying the volume of the input certied material by the input/output ratio
and accounting for manufacturing losses.
3.5.6 The labels used for the credit method are shown in Section 6. Rules for Use of SFI On-Product Labels and Off-Product Marks.
3.5.7 The Certied Organization can accumulate the SFI certied credits or recycled credits by creating a credit account, which can be
used for the next claim period.
a. The total quantity of credits cumulated at the credit account cannot exceed the sum of credits entered into the credit account
during the last 24 months.
b. An Certied Organization that is using the credit method but has yet to complete its initial certication can start counting all
eligible credit after the completion of a successful internal audit of the Chain-of-Custody system and completion of a management
review of the Chain-of-Custody system performance. Eligible credits can be accumulated up to 365 days prior to the initial
registration audit. Accumulated credits can be utilized for the sale of products only after successful completion of the registration
audit and receipt of the Chain-of-Custody certicate from their certication body.
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4.1 IDENTIFICATION AT DELIVERY LEVEL
The Certied Organization shall identify and verify the category of the origin of all procured raw material. Documents and/or veriable information
associated with the source and/or delivery of raw material shall include at least:
a. supplier identication,
b. quantity of delivery,
c. date of delivery / delivery period / accounting period,
d. category of origin
1
,
i. SFI X% Certied Forest Content
ii. SFI X% Recycled Content
iii. SFI X%Pre-Consumer Recycled
iv. SFI X% Post-Consumer Recycled
v. SFI X% Certied Sourcing or SFI Certied Sourcing
vi. SFI Credit or 100% as calculated under the credit method.
vii. SFI at Least X% Certied Forest Content
viii. SFI 100% from a Certied Forest
ix. SFI 100% Certied Forest Content - Raw material from a forest certied to an acceptable forest management standard
constitutes a claim of 100% certied forest content
e. The supplier’s SFI 2022 Forest Management Standard, SFI 2022 Chain-of-Custody Standard, SFI 2022 Fiber Sourcing Standard,
PEFC Chain-of-Custody Standard, or other acceptable forest management standards certicate number, as applicable.
This information can be documented in the form of, but not limited to, an invoice, bill of lading, shipping document, letter, or other forms of
communications between the Certied Organization and the next entity in the supply chain.
Note 1: The categories of the origin of raw material are specied in the SFI Denitions (Section 14).
Note 2: A Certied Organization (e.g., printer or lumberyard) that uses the physical separation method and sources inputs from a supplier that uses the
percentage-based method must know the percentage of certied content if it wants to label products or make claims about them.
4.2 IDENTIFICATION AT SUPPLIER LEVEL
The Certied Organization shall obtain or access conrmation documentation for all suppliers of the certied content, which proves that the criteria set for
the supplier have been met.
5.1 At the point of sale or transfer of the certied products to another entity, the Certied Organization shall provide the next entity in the chain with
written information conrming the supplier’s certication status and an ofcial SFI claim statement providing a clear indication of input category.
This can be in the form of, but not limited to, an invoice, bill of lading, shipping document, letter or other forms of communications available to the
customer at the time of the sale of the product.
5.2 The Certied Organization shall ensure that documentation of the certied products clearly states at least the following information
a. certied organization’s identication,
b. quantity of delivery,
c. date of delivery / delivery period / accounting period,
d. an ofcial SFI claim
2
,
i. SFI X% Certied Forest Content
ii. SFI X% Recycled Content
PART 4: IDENTIFICATION OF THE ORIGIN
PART 5: SALE OF CERTIFIED CONTENT PRODUCTS
1
Primary and secondary producers with a valid SFI 2022 Chain of Custody certicate can use their Chain-of-Custody procedures to make PEFC chain of custody claims or
apply the PEFC on-product logo provided they comply with the applicable requirements in PEFC ST 2002:2020 - Chain of Custody of Forest and Tree Based Products –
Requirements and PEFC ST 2001:2020 - PEFC Trademark Rules. A matrix on SFI and PEFC category of origin alignments is available in the Guide to the SFI Standards
and Rules (Section 7).
2
Primary and secondary producers with a valid SFI 2022 Chain of Custody certicate can use their Chain-of-Custody procedures to make PEFC chain of custody claims or
apply the PEFC on-product logo provided they comply with the applicable requirements in PEFC ST 2002:2020 - Chain of Custody of Forest and Tree Based Products –
Requirements and PEFC ST 2001:2020 - PEFC Trademark Rules. A matrix with SFI and PEFC category of origin alignments is available in the Guide to the SFI Standards
and Rules (Section 7).
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iii. SFI X% Pre-Consumer Recycled
iv. SFI X% Post-Consumer Recycled
v. SFI X% Certied Sourcing or SFI Certied Sourcing
(Note: Percentages of any combination of the above are permissible.)
vi. SFI Credit or 100% as calculated under the credit method.
vii. SFI at Least X% Certied Forest Content
viii. SFI 100% from a Certied Forest
ix. SFI 100% Certied Forest Content
e. the Certied Organization’s Chain-of-Custody certicate number.
5.3 If the Certied Organization uses the off-product mark or on-product label, both on-product and off-product usage shall be carried out according
to the terms and conditions of the Ofce of Label Use and Licensing and the Rules For Use of SFI On-Product Labels and Off-Product Marks
(Section 6 in the SFI 2022 Standards and Rules).
6.1 Primary or secondary producers outside the United States and Canada must submit to the SFI Ofce of Label Use and Licensing:
Specic examples of proposed SFI on-product label use and related promotional literature to the Ofce of Label Use and Licensing, in keeping
with the Rules for Use of SFI On-Product Labels and Off-Product Marks (Section 6 in the SFI 2022 Standards and Rules document).
7.1 DEFINITION OF CONTROVERSIAL SOURCES
a. Forest activities which are not in compliance with applicable state, provincial, federal, or international laws.
b. Forest activities that are contributing to regional declines in habitat conservation and species protection (including biodiversity and
special sites, Alliance for Zero Extinction sites and key biodiversity areas, threatened and endangered species).
c. Conversion sources originating from regions experiencing forest area decline.
d. Forest activities where the spirit of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights
at work (1998) are not met.
e. Forest activities where the spirit of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007) are not met.
f. Fiber sourced from areas without effective social laws
g. Illegal Logging including trade in CITES (The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora)
listed species.
h. Conict Timber
i. Genetically modied trees via forest tree biotechnology
7.2 ACCESS TO INFORMATION
7.2.1 The Certied Organization shall collect information on the source of the forest-based product, through a due diligence system to
address the likelihood of sourcing from controversial sources.
a. Identication of tree species, or list of tree species potentially included, by their common name and or their scientic name
where applicable.
b. Country or region of harvest of the material.
c. If requested by their customer, provide the information required in a. and b.
Recycled content is exempt from a due diligence system to address the likelihood of sourcing from controversial sources.
7.2.2 The Certied Organization can consider forest based products low risk and exempt from due diligence when:
a. Procured from a supplier with a valid SFI Section 2 (SFI 2022 Forest Management Standard) certicate, or other acceptable forest
management standards, that clearly indicates that the source is within the scope of the certication; or
b. Procured from a supplier with a valid SFI Section 3 (SFI 2022 Fiber Sourcing Standard) certicate that clearly indicates that the
source is within the scope of the certication and/or the due diligence system; or
PART 6: REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
PART 7: DUE DILIGENCE SYSTEM TO AVOID CONTROVERSIAL SOURCES
SFI 2022 CHAIN OF CUSTODY STANDARD | 7/14
c. Procured from a supplier with a valid SFI Section 4 (SFI 2022 Chain-of-Custody Standard), or other credible Chain-of-Custody
standard certicate and/or the due diligence system; or
d. Procured from a supplier with a valid SFI Section 5 (SFI 2022 Certied Sourcing Standard) certicate and/or the due diligence system;
7.3 DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT A DUE DILIGENCE SYSTEM
7.3.1 The Certied Organization shall develop and implement a Due Diligence System (DDS) to assess and manage the risk of sourcing forest-
based products from controversial sources in accordance with the requirements of this standard.
7.3.2 The DDS risk assessment shall classify material into low- and high-risk categories
7.3.3 The risk assessment shall be carried out at the regional level unless risk is consistent at the national level.
7.3.4 The Certied Organization shall review, and if necessary, revise its risk ratings on at least an annual basis.
7.3.5 The Certied Organization shall conduct a risk assessment before the rst time of delivery for each new region of supply.
7.4 SUBSTANTIATED CONCERNS DUE TO ORGANIZATION’S RISK ASSESSMENT
7.4.1 The Certied Organization shall have a program to assess any substantiated concern. A substantiated concern is information supported
by proof or evidence, indicating that forest-based material originates in controversial sources. Substantiated concerns can be concerns
by third parties, as well as concerns of the Certied Organization itself.
7.4.2 The Certied Organization shall update its risk assessment to reect substantiated concerns associated with a region of origin identied
through internal data or public data.
7.5 MANAGEMENT OF HIGH-RISK FOREST-BASED PRODUCTS
7.5.1 Where the risk assessment determines high risk, the Certied Organization shall implement a program to mitigate such risk and require
a signed contract and/or self-declaration that the supplied forest-based product does not originate from controversial sources.
7.5.2 For each supply source where the risk is high, the risk assessment shall also identify the specic veriable controls that the Certied
Organization has in place to substantially reduce the risk of sourcing forest-based products from controversial sources.
7.5.3 Where an Certied Organization receives forest-based products, and then learns these forest-based products are from controversial
sources, if possible, these forest-based products shall be segregated and prevented from entering the Chain-of-Custody system. If
forest-based product has already entered the Chain-of-Custody system and cannot be segregated additional corrective measures shall
be implemented to avoid future controversial sources. If subsequent verication demonstrates that the risk of this ber originating from
controversial sources is low, these forest-based products can re-enter the Chain-of-Custody system.
7.5.4 The Certied Organization shall identify the veriable measures that the Certied Organization must implement across the full supply
chain for each source of supply identied as high risk to ensure that the supply is not from controversial sources, which will include:
a. Assessing the operating effectiveness of veriable measures, through eld-based verication.
b. For direct sources, include eld and document verication of controversial sources risk factors back to the forest units from which
ber is sourced.
c. For indirect sources, include site and document verication of suppliers (such as lumber suppliers, chip suppliers and wood yards) to
establish the absence of controversial sources risk factors in their inputs and sample-based eld verication of their supply sources
back to the forest units from which they source ber.
7.5.5 Where sampling is conducted as part of the verication program, the sampling program shall be risk based to draw valid conclusions
across all ber inputs.
7.6 AVOIDANCE OF CONTROVERSIAL SOURCES
7.6.1 Where the veriable measures are not considered to be effective in reducing the risk of receiving ber from controversial sources to low,
ber from these sources shall be avoided.
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8.1 GENERAL REQUIREMENTS
The Certied Organization shall operate a management system in accordance with the following elements of the SFI 2022 Chain-of-Custody Standard,
which ensure correct implementation and maintenance of the Chain-of-Custody process. The management system shall be appropriate to the type,
range and volume of work performed.
Note: An Certied Organization’s quality (ISO 9001:2015) or environmental (ISO 14001:2015) management system can be used to meet the
minimum requirements for the management system dened in this standard.
8.2 RESPONSIBILITIES AND AUTHORITIES FOR CHAIN-OF-CUSTODY
8.2.1 The Certied Organization’s management shall dene and document its commitment to implement and maintain the Chain-of-
Custody requirements, and make this available to its personnel, suppliers, customers, and other interested parties.
8.2.2 The Certied Organization’s management shall appoint a member of the management who, irrespective of other responsibilities, shall
have overall responsibility and authority for the Chain-of-Custody.
8.2.3 The Certied Organization’s management shall carry out a regular periodic review of the Chain-of-Custody and its compliance with the
requirements of this standard.
8.2.4 The Certied Organization shall demonstrate its commitment to comply with the social, health and safety requirements dened in
this standard, including the spirt of ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (1998).
8.2.5 The Certied Organization shall identify personnel performing work affecting the implementation and maintenance of the Chain-of-
Custody, and establish and set responsibilities and authorities relating to the Chain-of-Custody process:
a. raw material procurement and identication of the origin;
b. product processing covering physical separation, percentage calculation, or credit and transfer into output products;
c. product sale and labeling;
d. record keeping; and
e. internal audits and nonconformity control.
8.2.6 Certied Organizations shall have a system to comply with all applicable social laws at the federal, provincial, state, and local levels
in the country in which the Certied Organization operates. This includes having a policy demonstrating compliance with social laws,
such as those covering civil rights, equal employment opportunities, anti-discrimination and anti-harassment measures, workers’
compensation, Indigenous Peoples’ rights, workers’ and communities’ right to know, prevailing wages, workers’ right to organize and
occupational health and safety.
8.3 DOCUMENTED PROCEDURES
The Certied Organization’s procedures for the Chain-of-Custody shall be documented, and include at least the following elements:
a. description of the raw material ow within the production process;
b. organization structure, responsibilities and authorities relating to Chain-of-Custody; and
c. procedures for the Chain-of-Custody process covering all requirements of this standard.
8.4 RECORD KEEPING
8.4.1 The Certied Organization shall establish and maintain records to provide evidence it has conformed to the requirements of this
standard and its Chain-of-Custody procedures are effective and efcient. The organization shall keep at least the following:
a. records of all suppliers of forest-based material, including information to conrm requirements at the supplier level are met;
b. records of all purchased forest-based raw material, including information on its origin;
c. records that demonstrate how the certication percentage for each product group was calculated;
d. records of all forest-based products sold and their claimed origin, including, as applicable, records of movements in credit accounts;
e. records of internal audits, nonconformities that occurred and corrective actions taken;
f. records of top management’s periodic review of compliance with Chain-of-Custody requirements; and
g. records of all complaints received from suppliers, customers, and other parties relating to its Chain-of-Custody system.
8.4.2 The Certied Organization shall maintain the records for a minimum period of three years unless stated otherwise by law.
PART 8: MINIMUM MANAGEMENT SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
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8.5 RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
8.5.1 Human Resources/Personnel:
The Certied Organization shall ensure that all personnel performing work affecting the implementation and maintenance of the Chain-
of-Custody shall be competent based on appropriate training, education, skills, and experience.
8.5.2 Technical Facilities:
The Certied Organization shall identify, provide, and maintain the infrastructure and technical facilities needed for effective
implementation and maintenance of the organization’s Chain-of-Custody to meet the requirements of this standard.
8.6 INTERNAL AUDIT AND MANAGEMENT REVIEW
8.6.1 The Certied Organization shall conduct internal audits at least annually, and prior to the initial certication audit, covering all
requirements of this standard and establish corrective and preventive measures if required.
8.6.2 The Certied Organization shall conduct the internal audit in accordance with the following requirements:
a. The internal audit shall be undertaken by personnel that have adequate knowledge of the SFI 2022 Chain-of-Custody Standard;
b. Off-site interviews and desk audits are permissible;
c. If there have been no inputs or outputs for a site or manufacturing facility over the past year, internal audits are not required;
d. If a site or manufacturing facility has had no sales of SFI certied products over that past year, internal audits are not required;
e. Internal audits are to assess overall organizational conformance and internal audit documentation can consist of one consolidated
internal audit checklist and/or report; and
f. Where nonconformities are identied during the internal audit process, a corrective action plan shall be developed at the site and/or
organizational level.
8.6.3 The Certied Organization shall have its rationale for remote audits and its sampling procedure audited by its certication body.
8.6.4 The results of internal audits shall be reported to management for review during the annual management review.
8.7 In accordance with clause 8.4.1 g and SFI Section 12, the Certied Organization shall establish procedures for dealing with complaints from
suppliers, customers, and other parties relating to its Chain-of-Custody system. If requested by SFI, provide SFI a summary of complaints received.
9.1 The Certied Organization may outsource activities covered by its SFI Chain-of-Custody to another entity.
9.2 Through all stages of outsourcing the Certied Organization shall be responsible for ensuring that all outsourced activities meet the requirements
of this standard, including management system requirements. The Certied Organization shall have a written agreement with all entities to whom
activities have been outsourced, ensuring that:
a. The material/products covered by the Certied Organization’s SFI Chain-of-Custody are clearly identied from other material
or products.
b. The Certied Organization has access to the entity’s site(s) for internal and external auditing of outsourced activities for conformity
with the requirements of this standard.
c. Internal audits of outsourced activities should be conducted at least annually and before the outsourced activity starts.
d. Records of inputs/outputs are available.
9.3 Where the Certied Organization has outsourced activities within the scope of its Chain-of-Custody, the Certied Organization shall develop
procedures for the audit of these contractors.
9.4 The internal audit of outsource contractors may be conducted remotely.
9.5 Where there are sufcient outsource contractors the internal audit may use a sampling approach for these contractors.
PART 9: OUTSOURCING AGREEMENTS
10/14 | SFI 2022 CHAIN OF CUSTODY STANDARD
Denition of the Product Group
The SFI 2022 Chain-of-Custody Standard at Part 3.2 and Appendix 1 allows a Certied Organization to dene the product group(s) for which the
certication percentage is calculated. The product group should be identied for specic products or groups of products. The Certied Organization
should include in one product group only products which consist of the same raw material. For example, a printer could identify as a product group
the paper usage for all inserts, order-forms, offset body, gravure body, and cover products being bound or stitched together into the nal product of a
magazine or catalog.
Other examples are listed in Table 1.
APPENDIX 1: CALCULATION OF THE CERTIFICATION PERCENTAGE (Informative)
Output products
Spruce lumber A
Pine lumber B
Fir lumber C
Fir/Spruce/Pine (SPF) chips
Alder lumber A
Alder lumber B
Alder lumber C
Alder chips
Alder/Pine/Spruce sawdust
Alder/Pine/Spruce bark
Input raw material
Spruce, Pine, Fir
(SPF) sawlogs
Alder sawlogs
Alder/Spruce/Pine sawlogs
Chain-of-Custody
product group
Spruce, Pine, Fir (SPF)
products
Alder products
Residue products
Units for credit account
Tons of Spruce, Pine,
Fir (SPF) sawlogs
Tons of Alder sawlogs
Tons of Alder/Spruce,
Pine Fir (SPF) sawlogs
Table 1: Example of Chain-of-Custody product group
Calculation of the Certication Percentage
The Certied Organization can use two methods to calculate the certication percentage (simple percentage or rolling percentage):
Simple Percentage
The certication percentage for the specic product group is calculated from the material included in that specic product group. As a result, the
Certied Organization applying this method must know the percentage of certied content before any product from that product group is sold or
transferred.
Rolling Percentage
The rolling percentage is obtained by using the quantity of raw material procured in the specied previous period. As a maximum, the rolling
percentage can be applied over the last 12 months.
Example of a Three-Month Rolling Percentage
The certication percentage for the product group is calculated from volumes of certied and other raw material procured during the previous
three-month period (excluding the current product group).
Note: When the Certied Organization starts the Chain-of-Custody and the time period used in rolling percentage calculation is longer than the time
period the Chain-of-Custody has been in place, the calculation of the rolling percentage is carried out from the volumes procured since the Chain-of-
Custody was established. An example is given in Table 2: The rst rolling percentage (month 1) is calculated only from volumes procured in month 1,
the second rolling percentage (month 2) is calculated only from volumes procured in months 1 and 2.
SFI 2022 CHAIN OF CUSTODY STANDARD | 11/14
1 2 3 4 5 6
j=i Vc Vo Vc(3) Vo(3) Pc(3)
1 11 90 11 90 10.89%
2 12 90 23 180 11.33%
3 13 90 36 270 11.76%
4 14 90 39 270 12.62%
5 15 90 42 270 13.46%
6 16 90 45 270 14.29%
7 17 90 48 270 15.09%
8 18 90 51 270 15.89%
9 19 90 54 270 16.67%
10 20 90 57 270 17.43%
11 21 90 60 270 18.18%
Continues
No. of the
1 month
calculation
period
Table 2: Example of three-month rolling percentage calculation
Volume of
certied raw
material
procured
(tons)*
Volume of other
raw material
(tons)*
Sum of volumes
of certied raw
material for
previous 3
months (tons)
Sum of volumes
of other raw
material for
previous 3
months (tons)
3-month rolling
percentage
* The volume gures given in the table above are only examples
i-2
Vc(3) = ∑ Vc
i
j=i
i-2
Vo(3) = ∑ Vo
i
j=i
Vc(3)
Pc(3) =
Vc(3)+Vo(3)
Example of calculation given in Table 2:
a. [column 4] Volume of certied raw material is calculated as sum of volumes of certied raw material procured in the previous 3 months.
Vc(3)
6
= Vc
6
+ Vc
5
+ Vc
4
; Vc(3)
6
= 16 + 15 + 14 = 45 [tons]
b. [column 5] Volume of other raw material is calculated as sum of volumes of other raw material procured in the previous 3 months.
Vo(3)
6
= Vo
6
+ Vo
5
+ Vo
4
; Vo(3)
6
= 90 + 90 + 90 = 270 [tons]
c. [column 6] The rolling percentage is calculated according to the formula of chapter 3.3.1: Pc = Vc / [Vc + Vo]
Pc
6
= 100 * Vc(3)
6
/ [Vc(3)
6
+ Vo(3)
6
] ; Pc
6
= 100 * 45 / [45 + 270] = 14.29%
Note: The product group period does not need to be equal to the calculation period if it does not exceed the length of the calculation period.
12/14 | SFI 2022 CHAIN OF CUSTODY STANDARD
Credit Accumulation
The Certied Organization can establish a credit account for the input raw material used in the specic product group or for specic products of the
product group if 3.5.2 applies.
1 2 3 4 5
1 0 0 0 0
2 7.78 7.78 7.78 0
3 8.17 15.95 15.95 0
4 8.56 24.51 24.51 0
5 9.28 33.79 33.79 0
6 9.99 43.78 43.78 0
7 10.70 54.48 54.48 0
8 11.41 65.89 65.89 0
9 12.12 78.01 78.01 0
10 12.83 90.84 90.84 0
11 13.54 104.39 104.39 0
12 14.25 118.64 118.64 0
13 14.96 133.61 133.61 0
14 15.68 141.50 141.50 5
15 16.38 149.72 149.72 10
16 17.09 156.81 158.25 50
17 17.80 124.62 166.78 50
18 18.51 93.13 175.30 100
Number of 1
month’s
product group
Table 3: Example of credit accumulation (in tons)
Credit volume
for the product
group
Credit account Maximum credit
account
Used credits
= [3]i-1- [5]i-1 + [2]i
condition:
[3]i ≤ [4]i
i-11
∑ [2]
i
Example of calculation given in Table 3 for the product group of month 14:
d. [column 2] Includes credit calculated for 1 month product group. (Values for months 1-11 are taken from Table 2.)
e. [column 3] Credit account is calculated as a result of the credit account in the previous month [column 3, month 14] minus credits used
in the previous month [column 5, month 14] plus credit calculated for the current month [column 2, month 15].
[3]
14
- [5]
14
+[2]
15
= 141.50 – 5 + 16.38 = 152.88 [tons]
Total quantity accumulated in the credit account cannot exceed credits entered into the credit in the previous 12 months
[column 4 = 149.72] (chapter 3.4.2.4)
152.88 > 149.72, therefore credit account is 149.72 [tons]
f. [column 4] Maximum credit account is calculated as a sum of credits entered into the credit account during the last 12 months [column
2, month 4-15].
[4] = [2]
4
+ [2]
5
+ [2]
6
+ [2]
7
+ [2]
8
+ [2]
9
+ [2]
10
+ [2]
11
+ [2]
12
+ [2]
13
+ [2]
14
+ [2]
15
=
= 8.56+9.28+9.99+10.70+11.41+12.12+12.83+13.54+14.25+14.96+15.68+16.38 = 149.72 [tons]
SFI 2022 CHAIN OF CUSTODY STANDARD | 13/14
Use of the Credit Account
The credit account shall be drawn down as certied sales are made. The number of credits removed from the account shall be based on the ratio
of input/output volume for the specic products sold as certied. Table 4 shows an example of the drawdown of the credit account for different
product sales.
Table 4: Example of drawdown of the credit account for different product sales
200 A 1/1 20 20
180 B 4/1 40 160
20 C 2/1 10 20
0 - - - -
Credit account
balance (raw
material credits)
Product Input/output
ratio
Volume of
certied sales
Reduction to
credit account
balance
14/14 | SFI 2022 CHAIN OF CUSTODY STANDARD
