FSC is aware that desk audits cannot fully replace on-site audits, but we see this derogation as justified in the current situation. Our priority is to protect the health of staff of certification bodies and certificate holders, and to support global measures to minimise the spread of the virus. To mitigate the difference in audit intensity and enable us to monitor the situation, we are setting up additional reporting requirements for the CBs.
With the flexible audit options, we aim to assure certificate holders that they need not be concerned of losing their certification status because auditors and staff are unable to conduct on-site audits in these challenging times.
Additional information can be found in the FSC derogation (FSC-DER-2020-001). This derogation is valid to 31 December.
An interpretation has also been issued for the Chain of Custody Certification of Multiple Sites standard (FSC-STD-40-003 V2-1). Find out more here.