Impact of European Union Timber Regulation on Forest Certification Strategies in the Finnish Wood Industry  Value Chain

Holopainen, Jani; Toppinen, Anne; Perttula, Sini

doi:10.3390/f6082879

Cited by 15 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Hence, certified companies participating in this study did not perceive the EUTR as negatively affecting their suppliers, exports or customers. These findings are consistent with previous observations that only minor changes and costs are likely to occur for firms with existing forest and CoC certificates [19]. However, there are concerns that new requirements introduced through the EUTR would raise additional costs for companies and in turn hinder their competitiveness on the EU timber market.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

The Interaction between FSC Certification and the Implementation of the EU Timber Regulation in Romania

Gavrilut

Hălălișan

Giurca

et al. 2015

Forests

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This explorative study aims to shed light on the ways in which Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification interacts with the implementation of the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR) in Romania. To this end, the EUTR implementation process is examined, and the relationship between this implementation and FSC certification is explored. There is a particular focus on the extent to which certification has helped companies to comply with EUTR requirements. The study uses the analytical framework of Transnational Business Governance Interactions (TBGI) and a mixed research approach. It is found that FSC certification has to a large extent helped companies to prepare for and align with the EUTR's requirements, in particular concerning risk assessment and risk mitigation procedures needed for a due diligence system (DDS), and in the context of a "policy vacuum" period related to EUTR implementation. Moreover, recent changes in the FSC standard make it theoretically in line with EUTR requirements. However, difficulties remain in relation to the lack of information, costs and bureaucracy associated with both EUTR implementation and FSC certification. Notably, in the absence of a monitoring organization, the establishment of a viable DDS is still problematic as many companies remain unprepared for developing their own systems. Finally, the EUTR and its risk management requirements may have partly fueled the increase in uptake of chain of custody (CoC) certification in Romania. However, due to the risk of CoC certificates including illegally sourced timber, this recent uptake in certification does not necessarily indicate improved sustainable forest management (SFM) or full compliance with EUTR.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

The Interaction between FSC Certification and the Implementation of the EU Timber Regulation in Romania

Gavrilut

Hălălișan

Giurca

et al. 2015

Forests

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“…The certification statements included the main objectives and purposes of having CoC certification, including promotion and management of sustainable forest resources [3][4][5], traceability and confidence in sourcing certified raw materials and products [31], legality issues [32,36,38], market access [14,17,18], potential for improved communication [49], and possible improvements in internal efficiency of material flows, and effects on corporate management [18,30].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Only minor additional operator costs are required to make these systems fully compatible with EUTR requirements [37]. The impact will mainly be on small and medium enterprises importing timber from outside the EU without existing traceability systems [38]. EUTR as a public policy may potentially have a positive effect on the acceptance of certification [39].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of Chain-of-Custody Certification in the Czech and Slovak Republic

et al. 2017

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Forest certification is a voluntary verification tool that has been gaining importance within the global sustainability issues as an independent verification tool for sustainable forest management and wood processing industry and as an influencer in private and public purchasing policies and a component of emerging wood harvesting and trade legality schemes. This study focuses on the chain-of-custody (CoC) component of forest certification. A survey of CoC certified companies in the Czech Republic and Slovakia was carried out to explore the understanding of the concept and role of forest and CoC certification as an environmental, economic, and social tool. It aimed to determine expectations following from the implementation of CoC certification by companies and to identify difficulties in existing certified wood product supply chains and costs related to purchase and sales of certified forest products, respectively. Results indicate that respondents demonstrated a high level of understanding of the CoC concept and that they link forest certification mainly to the issues of legality, tracing the origin source of supply and promotion of sustainable utilisation of wood. The main expected benefits are linked to the improvement of an external company image followed by penetration of new markets and increase of sales volume. CoC is not considered a tool to improve internal company performance and efficiency. The key problems connected to certified supply chains relate to the sufficient quantity of certified forest products, low margins and overpriced certified material inputs. Respondents reported none or minimum price premiums for their certified products over non-certified alternatives. Several differences related to the understanding of the sustainable forest management concept and the level of price premium paid for certified inputs were identified between the PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) and FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified companies as well as between the different forest products sectors.

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“…Most importantly, our study sheds light on how origin and certification can contribute to the forest sector's competitiveness against other material sectors, an area that lacks research. This is also an area concerning the forest industry and which has affected their attitudes in terms of forest certification's capability to improve competitive advantage and gain price premiums [15,25].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forest Certification and Country of Origin: Choice Experiment Analysis of Outdoor Decking Material Selection in E-Commerce Market in Finland

Holopainen

Toppinen

Lähtinen

et al. 2017

Forests

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Abstract:Since the early 1990s, there has been hope that the uptake of certified forest products would ensure more sustainable forest management and also deliver business benefits along the value chain. Our study applies a Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) to model an e-commerce purchase in the case of multiple products with various attribute and certification combinations in the Finnish retail outdoor decking material market. We received 2772 responses from 231 participants in an online survey. Applying conditional logit and latent class models, we were able to assess the relative importance of attributes, identify various consumer segments, and simulate various scenarios for communicating the certification and origin of forest products and competing materials. Our results show that the most important attribute for consumer decision-making was the outdoor decking material followed by price, origin, and certification. Some consumer segments showed a habit of only choosing certain materials or domestic products, while paying less attention to other product attributes. Simulations for an e-commerce purchase situation also implied that communications concerning intangible product attributes, such as domestic origin and environmental certifications, could be used in the brand building of the forest sector to gain competitive advantage and increased market shares over other sectors. The results suggest that the conventional and constantly developing e-commerce marketing tools should be harnessed also in forest product and more general environmental marketing.

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Impact of European Union Timber Regulation on Forest Certification Strategies in the Finnish Wood Industry Value Chain

Cited by 15 publications

References 43 publications

The Interaction between FSC Certification and the Implementation of the EU Timber Regulation in Romania

The Interaction between FSC Certification and the Implementation of the EU Timber Regulation in Romania

Assessment of Chain-of-Custody Certification in the Czech and Slovak Republic

Forest Certification and Country of Origin: Choice Experiment Analysis of Outdoor Decking Material Selection in E-Commerce Market in Finland

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