Inclusion of Social Criteria Update

The consultation on inclusion of social criteria ended on 21 October. Defra received comments from 24 individual stakeholders including environmental and social NGOs, timber trade, forest owner associations and forest certification schemes. We were pleased to learn that all stakeholders welcomed the inclusion of social criteria in the procurement policy as one of the three fundamental elements of sustainable forest management.

 Comments received were mainly related to the wording and clarification in the final criteria and all the comments have been taken into account and passed to the CPET Technical Panel. The panel met for a 2 day workshop at the end of November and developed a final draft of the criteria and guidance to implementation. The CPET Reference Board met on the 9^th of December and advised Defra that provided a few minor changes are made the criteria can be included. Defra is now looking at how best to implement the criteria and final implementation is expected early in the New Year prior to the upcoming Category A assessment of the certification schemes.

Your views and comments are essential in developing the policy and ensuring implementation and Defra and CPET would like to thank you for all the comments.