Parliamentarians worried about certification

All necessary proactive measures should be taken to ensure that "no certification system [...] has the effect of superseding or usurping the policy-making and/or regulatory functions of any level of government in matters relating to forest management or international trade."

This is one of the key recommendations made by the Standing Committee on Natural Resources and Government Operations in its unanimous report Forest management practices in Canada as an international trade issue, tabled on June 27, 2000, in the House of Commons.

The report, completed after hearings of some 70 witnesses held over one year, prompts Canadian governments, at the federal, provincial and territorial levels, to take stringent measures to ensure forest certification is carried out in a manner that serves the promotion of Canadian forest products exports.

Other key findings/recommendations of the report include:

- "The Committee acknowledges that market access problems resulting from boycott campaigns of Canadian forest products are not going to be resolved by forest certification alone. In recognizing that it may be a partial solution, the Committee recommends that, should it seek a role in certification, the federal government, along with the provinces and territories, encourage the recognition of a diversity of forest certification systems."

- "The Committee recommends that the federal government, in cooperation with the provinces and territories, monitor the openness, transparency, accountability and equity of certification systems to ensure that different forest types are treated in a similar fashion within Canada and around the world."

- "The Committee believes that the time is right to encourage formal talks leading toward mutual recognition of forest certification systems. [...] Such discussions could be held as part of, or in parallel to, the current talks around the development of an international forest convention."

- "The Committee recommends that the federal government, in partnership with the provinces and territories, rigorously monitor potential infringements of international trade rules as set out by the World Trade Organization and other international trade agreements."

Making reference to the forest certification alliance between the World Bank and the WorldWide Fund for Nature, the Committee recommends that "the government should also encourage international organizations of which it is a member to adhere to standards that do not support any activities that may in turn encourage the setting up of non-tariff trade barriers."

In its conclusions, the report deplores that "a great deal of information, some credible, some misleading, is circulating about Canada's forests. Depending on who is using it or analyzing it, this information can enable certain groups to discredit Canada in its forest products export markets."

The Committee recommends that the federal government, in cooperation with the provinces and territories, encourage the gathering and dissemination of accurate and up-to-date information on the state of Canadian forests and forestry practices.

For Mr. Volpe, the Committee's chair, "the best ways to respond to these campaigns are to gather information that is as accurate and as credible as possible and, most importantly, to implement the best available forest practices."

More coverage on this report, and reactions to it, are forthcoming in Forest Certification Watch #10. Key hearings by the Committee, including by The Home Depot, JD Irving Ltd., FSC and CSA were already reported on in previous issues.