Nippon Paper Industries Co., Ltd. (President: Masatomo Nakamura) is pleased to announce that under the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes (*1), an internationally recognized forest certification system, the Company has acquired Chain of Custody certification (*2) making it the Japanese first company to establish a consistent PEFC-certified paper production system from chip procurement, to sale through manufacture.

 

Nippon Paper Industries obtained PEFC-CoC certification for the import of woodchips by the Forestry Department, the Raw Material & Purchasing Division, in December 2004. At the end of March 2007, the Company also acquired PEFC-CoC certification at headquarters (Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo), Ishinomaki Mill (Ishinomaki, Miyagi) and Iwakuni Mill (Iwakuni, Yamaguchi).

Nippon Paper Industries became Japan's first paper manufacturer that obtained PEFC certification from chip procurement to sale through manufacture.

 

Forest Stewardship Council (*3) is also an international organization for forest certification similar to PEFC. Suzukawa Office of Fuji Mill (Fuji, Shizuoka) obtained CoC certification in January 2003 and Iwakuni Mill and Yatsushiro Mill (Yatsushiro, Kumamoto) obtained CoC certification in April 2007.With the headquarters and domestic mills CoC certified, Nippon Paper Industries will construct a consistent production and sales system for paper production, using materials sourced from certified forests and tree farms to satisfy the needs of our customers.

 

*1:

Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes (PEFC)

Founded by private organizations from 14 European countries in 1999. Examines forest certifications that each country plans and promotes mutual certifications between the systems, based on inter-governmental processes for sustainable forest management.

 

*2:

Chain of Custody (CoC) Certification

The system for certifying that materials sourced from certified forests and tree farms are differentiated from the uncertified in distribution and processing and they are also managed with appropriate segmentation. It permits labeling and also allows consumers to tell materials from certified sources.

 

*3:

Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)

A certification system for responsible forest management, set up in 1993 with the participation of a large number of stakeholders including WWF, a global environment-related NGO.