Statement of Arkhangelsk PPM JSC, Arhkbum JSC, Arhkbum Tissue Group LLC, Arkhbum Upak LLC, PKP Titan LLC, Sawmill 25 JSC

FSC International’s decision to suspend indefinitely all Russian FSC trade certificates comes into force today.

We consider this decision of FSC International unreasonable, unfriendly, politically motivated, having nothing to do with the fundamental principles of FSC. This decision completely devalues the FSC certification system.

At the same time, we express our gratitude to the staff of the FSC Russia office, specialists of audit companies, representatives of all chambers of FSC Russia, the FSC Russia Coordinating Council for more than 15 years of cooperation for the benefit of the Russian forests.

We do not change our principles:

• we remain committed to the principles of sustainable development,
• we will continue to conduct environmentally sound, socially beneficial, economically viable forest management in forest areas leased by our companies in the Russian Federation,
• we will maintain our voluntary commitments to conserve high conservation value forests, including intact forest landscapes (IFL), which are critically important for the climate, and ensure the integrity of the wood supply chains from forests we responsibly manage.

We will continue to operate as if the FSC certificates continue to be valid, because we believe in the principles of responsible forest management as well as the interests of the people who completely depend on the economic activities in the sphere of forest development and wood processing.

We respect the buyers of our products and ensure rigorous performance of our obligations for many decades of our work.

In order to preserve our partnership, we will offer our customers several models of cooperation in the context of FSC International’s destructive decision, that has come into force, among which:

• continuation of sales of our companies’ finished goods with the proof of timber origin from forests with responsible forestry and other responsible sources with the confirmation of supply chains by the information of the unified state automated system (EGAIS) «Accounting of wood and transactions with it»;
• participation in new forest certification systems;
• other models to be agreed with our customers.

We hope that the state authorities will immediately commence development of the National forest certification scheme, that will be recognized at the level of bilateral intergovernmental agreements by countries friendly to the Russian Federation, at the level of the Eurasian Economic Union, BRICS countries and other political and economical associations.

We are convinced that together we will be able to achieve sustainable development of our companies, provide stable socio-economic situation in the regions of our presence, preservation of the Russian forests.

08.04.2022