A Report on the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme - Rengah ...

5. Transparency of the organisation
Summary reports of the forest management certifications are available on the MTCC website. As
with the other existing forest certification schemes, the full reports are considered the property of the
applicant. They are treated as if there is a contract between the assessor and applicant, unless, for
example, the report has been written for the purposes of assessing compliance with other standards,
such as the Keurhout Foundation Schedule of Conditions, in which case the report would be made
available to the concerned party.
As regards COC certification reports, only the scope of the certification, the holders’ certificate number
and the certificate issuance date is shown on the MTCC website.
6. Label protection and chain of custody
Labelling
Certified products will be packaged and labelled in accordance with the requirements of the MTCC
certification scheme. COC-certified products will bear the MTCC logo. MTCC certified timber has
been shipped to export markets since July 2002. Up to December 2003 a total of 6869 cubic meters
have been exported to the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, the UK, France and Australia 15 .
Chain of custody
For a certification scheme to be credible, there needs to be ‘a reliable system of tracking the timber
product though the transportation, processing and distribution chain from forest to final end-use (the
chain-of-custody), to provide assurance to end-users that the product has been sourced from
sustainably managed forests.’ (NTCC 2000c)
Malaysian chain-of-custody certification under the MTCC scheme was developed with the support of
the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ). A set of guidelines entitled Requirements and
Assessment Procedures for Chain-of-Custody Certification (RAP/COC Rev. 4) was finalised in November
2000 (MTCC 2001a). The MTCC website reveals that 29 companies from Peninsular Malaysia
are COC holders as of August 2003.
Segregation of certified product
There are two systems used for chain of custody certification in the MTCC scheme
1) physical segregation, and
2) minimum average percentage system.
1) The most straightforward way to comply with the chain of custody requirements, known as physical
segregation system, is to purchase certified material, keep it separate throughout all stages of
processing and create a finished product that is 100% certified. This system applies to solid wood
products only, such as sawn timber.
2) The minimum average percentage system is based on a client demonstrating that it consistently
meets a set of criteria that ensure the output contains at least a minimum percentage of certified
material. (Extracts from MTCC 2000c, RAP/COC Rev. 4)
1. The percentage of certified materials shall be calculated on a consistent basis by volume, dry weight, or
both. Calculation methods shall be based on verifiable documentation.
2. The minimum average percentage system is applied to either a defined batch period or a physical
batch. The Client shall specify the batch period it is using. The period should not exceed 60 days except
under exceptional circumstances approved by MTCC.
3. The percentage of certified material, which is calculated as a rolling mean (average) of the input, shall
not drop below the minimum threshold.