Firms Accredited to Perform SFI Certification Audits

The Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) announced in March 2007 that four firms have achieved accreditation by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) to perform chain-of-custody certification audits for SFI and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) sustainable forestry certification systems. PEFC is an international certification group, with SFI as its designated U.S. affiliate. The four accredited firms are Bureau Veritas Certification North America, KPMG Performance Registrar, NSF International, and the Quality Management Institute. By separating its standards-writing body from the certification process, SFI, which has been closely linked with the forest products industry, has added a new facet of independence. SFI’s website is at www.sfiprogram.org.