This page has only limited features, please log in for full access.
The COVID-19 pandemic caused economic difficulties for companies in forestry as well as significant issues for entities dealing with Chain of Custody (CoC) certification. Global certification schemes, like FSC and PEFC, based on some preventive provisions in their procedural frame, developed new approaches and derogations to maintain quality evaluation and the power of standards. Arising from COVID-19 restrictions, postponed audits (and the extension of the validity of existing certifications) or remote auditing became increasingly common. Based on a survey applied to companies that had CoC FSC audits in 2020, this study aimed at evaluating the perceptions of companies regarding the audits performed under COVID pandemic procedural derogations, along with other research objectives like the continuous investigation of certification drivers or advantages. Companies indicated that the certification bodies explained the characteristics of pandemic-adapted audits and conducted risk assessments before choosing the adapted approach. Almost half of the companies perceived significant differences between the on-site previous audits and the audits performed during the pandemic due to the imposed restrictions and adapted approaches. Additionally, companies found that hybrid or remote audits are not so efficient, and for the future on-site audits are preferred. The study concluded that making the auditing procedures less interactional is not yet a sufficiently mature approach; there is a clear need for better procedures, building online tools usage capacity, to better communicate the specificity of such procedures better, and to better balance the online evaluations with on-site assessments.
Adelin-Ionuț Nicorescu; Aureliu-Florin Hălălișan; Bogdan Popa; Nikolay Neykov. Challenges for FSC Forest Certification: Audits in the Context of Pandemic COVID-19. Forests 2021, 12, 997 .
AMA StyleAdelin-Ionuț Nicorescu, Aureliu-Florin Hălălișan, Bogdan Popa, Nikolay Neykov. Challenges for FSC Forest Certification: Audits in the Context of Pandemic COVID-19. Forests. 2021; 12 (8):997.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAdelin-Ionuț Nicorescu; Aureliu-Florin Hălălișan; Bogdan Popa; Nikolay Neykov. 2021. "Challenges for FSC Forest Certification: Audits in the Context of Pandemic COVID-19." Forests 12, no. 8: 997.
In the recent decades, forest certification based on third-party external audits has gained momentum. This type of certification has been developed as a monitoring tool aimed at improving governance in corporate environmental management and differentiating products in the increasing environmentally sensitive markets. Although the scholarly literature has extensively analyzed the adoption and dissemination of forest certification, the findings of the external audits and certification practices remain under researched. On the basis of the analysis of 105 audit reports issued by accredited third-party certification bodies in Romania, this article sheds light on procedural factors that have significant influence on the characteristics of non-conformities (NCs) identified by Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) third party audits. Our research offers empirical evidence that certain procedural factors such as the type of assessment, auditing days, number of auditors, or the presence of foreign members in an audit team have a significant influence on the auditing process outcomes: number and grade of non-conformities, standard references, or methods of NC detection. The study opens interesting new lines of research—the influence of procedural or other types of contextual factors on certification outcomes—and provides indications on the effectiveness of the certification procedures and guidelines in certification process quality assurance.
Aureliu-Florin Hălălișan; Bogdan Popa; Iñaki Saizarbitoria; Olivier Boiral; Germán Arana-Landín; Adelin-Ionuț Nicorescu; Ioan Abrudan. Procedural Factors Influencing Forest Certification Audits: An Empirical Study in Romania. Forests 2021, 12, 172 .
AMA StyleAureliu-Florin Hălălișan, Bogdan Popa, Iñaki Saizarbitoria, Olivier Boiral, Germán Arana-Landín, Adelin-Ionuț Nicorescu, Ioan Abrudan. Procedural Factors Influencing Forest Certification Audits: An Empirical Study in Romania. Forests. 2021; 12 (2):172.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAureliu-Florin Hălălișan; Bogdan Popa; Iñaki Saizarbitoria; Olivier Boiral; Germán Arana-Landín; Adelin-Ionuț Nicorescu; Ioan Abrudan. 2021. "Procedural Factors Influencing Forest Certification Audits: An Empirical Study in Romania." Forests 12, no. 2: 172.