Over the decades, Estonia’s state forest has been managed sustainably. Logging has not exceeded increment; when forestry activities are carried out, efforts have been made to avoid environmental damage as much as possible; and a significant portion of the state forest is strictly protected.
In the international timber trade, certification of the origin of timber has become increasingly important. Many timber products only have a market to sell into if the timber used to make them is certified. To ensure selling opportunities for Estonian timber and products made using it, RMK offers its customers certified timber. RMK has been awarded two sustainable forest management certificates — FSC® and PEFC.
Both are widely recognised global schemes for assessing sustainable forest management, under which compliance with set standards is confirmation that the forest is being managed in a balanced manner, in environmental, social and economic terms. Preference for timber with either label depends on the market.
FSC
Founded to promote the responsible management of the world’s forests, the FSC® (Forest Stewardship Council) is an international independent non-government, non-profit organisation.
In certification of its compliance with FSC’s requirements, RMK has been issued a forest management and supply chain certificate: Code SCS-FM/COC-008521 .
FSC licence code is FSC-CO22757
PEFC
The PEFC forest certification scheme was set up in Europe in 1999 to promote sustainable forest management and, above all, to involve smaller forest owners.In certification of its compliance with PEFC’s requirements, RMK has been issued a forest management and supply chain certificate with code TT-PEFC-FM020.
General principles for differentiating and handling FSC and PEFC certified and uncertified wood.
The SFMC has the
right to sell timber, standing timber felling rights and other forestry
products (e.g. Christmas trees) acquired in compliance with valid FSC and PEFC
forest management standards and applicable legislation by adding the FSC
certificate code of the SFMC to the delivery and sales documents of the
products and the statement “FSC 100%”, and the PEFC certificate code and the statement “100% PEFC
Certified”.
In addition to wood acquired from regular forest management, the following are
additionally sold as certified products:
- wood acquired in the course of deforestation and felling performed in the protection zones of power lines and gas pipelines on forest land in the possession of the SFMC;
- wood acquired in the course of deforestation (ditches and road routes) and felling performed upon the construction, reconstruction, renewal and maintenance of drainage systems and forest roads on forest land in the possession of the SFMC;
- wood acquired from felling required for nature conservation purposes on forest land in the possession of the SFMC, e.g. the renewal of semi-natural biotic communities and bogs;
- wood acquired from felling performed on forest land administered by the Ministry of Defence pursuant to the Forest Act;
- wood acquired from felling performed on forest land administered by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications pursuant to the Forest Act;
- wood acquired from felling performed on forest land in the possession of the Estonian Land Board pursuant to the Forest Act.
The SFMC has the right to sell and document timber, standing timber felling rights and other forestry products as only PEFC certified in the following cases:
- wood acquired from deforestation and felling performed on the basis of planning, surveys and environmental impact assessment in areas of mineral deposits nationally approved for the use of mineral resources, including land in the possession of the SFMC, if the intended purpose of the area is to become mining land;
- wood acquired from deforestation and felling performed on the basis of planning, surveys and environmental impact assessment on infrastructure objects located on land in the possession of the SFMC (construction or extension of new roads, construction or extension of power lines, state border, etc.);
- wood acquired from deforestation and felling performed for the purpose of enabling the intended agricultural use of (overgrown) agricultural land and grassland located on land in the possession of the SFMC;
- wood acquired from deforestation and felling for nature conservation purposes on non-forest land in the possession of the SFMC;
- wood acquired from deforestation performed on forest land and felling performed on non-forest land administered by the Ministry of Defence pursuant to the Forest Act;
- wood acquired from deforestation performed on forest land and felling performed on non-forest land administered by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications pursuant to the Forest Act;
- wood acquired from deforestation performed on forest land and felling performed on non-forest land in the possession of the Estonian Land Board pursuant to the Forest Act;
- wood acquired from deforestation and felling performed on forest land and felling performed on non-forest land in the possession of the Ministry of the Interior based on the orders of the Government of the Republic.
Felled timber, sold standing timber felling rights and other forestry products are not certified on state land that has not been reformed (land not belonging to the state until 23 July 1940) where the SFMC represents the state in the course of deforestation and performs sanitary felling that is crucial for the purposes of forest protection, and no FSC or PEFC certificate codes are added to the delivery and sales documents of these products. Likewise, wood acquired from deforestation performed on the basis of maintenance schedules of infrastructure objects (highways, gas pipelines) and their protection zones located on the land of other owners is not sold as FSC or PEFC certified.
