Shaping the implementation of the FSC standard: The case of auditors in Brazil

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSCJ label is one of t he most robust and widely accepted standards aimed at assessing long-term sustainable forest management worldwide. Through audits, accredited certification bodies assess the level or conformity of a company's performance against the standard to grant or not the certificate on behalf of the FSC. In this paper, we assess the scope auditors have to shape the implementation of the FSC standard in Brazil. Our work is based on the analysis of certification bodies· rules and of 250 full assessment and annual audit reports covering the period 2005-2017. including native and plantations reports. All reports were publicly available on FSC database. The analysis was completed with interviews with key informants. We show that most indicators of the Brazilian FSC standard leave no scope for interpretation. However, companies are certified and re-certified with a significant number of minor non-conformance with social, legal and environmental indicators. We conclude that some indicators are too broad and need to be clarified. Also, conformity with some indicators depends on actions from governments. The development of new national standards is an opportunity to limit the risks of interpretation of indicators. The updating of standards is also an opportunity to clarify the role of public policies in respect of specific indicators. States wishing to promote FSC certification could seize this opportunity to identify what improvements are needed in the functioning of their institutions and public policies.