The Management and work force at EPC Direct Limited are committed to the highest environmental performance and use of paper from sustainable resources.

We have now established and follow the chain of custody system; this allows EPC Direct Limited to reproduce the FSC & PEFC logos on printed material.

Chain of Custody is the means of tracing a paper product up through the supply chain back to where the fibre originated. This means that, in practice, a certified product can be tracked through every link in the chain, so that buyers can be guaranteed that fibre originated from a forest (or recycling plant) managed according to the rules of the certification scheme.

How we manage the chain of custody:

• Monitor paper suppliers and their certification
• Specification and purchasing of FSC and PEFC material
• Control of material from purchase through storage, printing and finishing
• The provision of appropriate despatch and invoicing documentation
• The training of personnel
• Full audit trial of procedures, identifying critical control points and areas where the system could fail, with the appropriate corrective action.

What is FSC?
The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an international organisation that brings people together to find solutions which promote responsible stewardship of the world's forests. FSC is a stakeholder-owned system for promoting responsible management of the world's forests.

• Through consultative processes, it sets international standards for responsible forest management.
• It accredits independent third party organizations who can certify forest managers and forest product producers to FSC standards.
• Its trademark provides international recognition to organizations who support the growth of responsible forest management.
• Its product label allows consumers worldwide to recognize products that support the growth of responsible forest management worldwide.
• FSC undertakes marketing programs and information services that contribute to the mission of promoting responsible forestry worldwide.
• Over the past 13 years, over 90 million hectares in more than 70 countries have been certified according to FSC standards while several thousand products are produced using FSC-certified wood and carrying the FSC trademark. FSC operates through its network of National Initiatives in 45 countries.

What is PEFC?
The PEFC Council (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes) is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organisation, founded in 1999 which promotes sustainable managed forests through independent third party certification. The PEFC provides an assurance mechanism to purchasers of wood and paper products that they are promoting the sustainable management of forests.

PEFC is a global umbrella organisation for the assessment of and mutual recognition of national forest certification schemes developed in a multi-stakeholder process. These national schemes build upon the inter-governmental processes for the promotion of sustainable forest management, a series of on-going mechanisms supported by 149 governments in the world covering 85% of the world's forest area.

PEFC has in its membership 35 independent national forest certification systems of which 25 to date have been through a rigorous assessment process involving public consultation and the use of independent assessors to provide the assessments on which mutual recognition decisions are taken by the membership. These 25 systems account for more than 200 million hectares of certified forests producing millions of tonnes of certified timber to the market place making PEFC the world's largest certification system. The other national members schemes are at various stages of development and are working towards mutual recognition under the PEFC processes.

Please contact Matthew Cummins for any further information you may require on the Chain of Custody scheme.