FSC Accreditation for SGS in North America

Online, January 19, 2010 (Newswire.com) - SGS Systems & Services Certification (SSC) in North America is pleased to announce that it has been awarded accreditation with the number FSC-ACC-030 to the Forest Stewardship Council by ASI to perform FSC (© 1996 Forest Stewardship Council) Chain of Custody audits in the United States, Canada and Mexico. SGS SSC North America has been performing FSC Chain of Custody audits for several years under the accreditation of the SGS Qualifor office in South Africa. Senior Vice President Stephen Chippas stated, "It has been a long time coming and I am very pleased that we have achieved our FSC accreditation. We do many Chain of Custody audits and to have this accreditation at our North American office will allow us to provide an even higher level of service to both our current and future clients."

SGS is the worlds' largest FSC certification body with over 6500 Chain of Custody certificates worldwide. Due to the number of certificates issued by SGS globally and the growth of FSC Chain of Custody in North America a decision was made for SGS SSC NA to obtain its own separate accreditation. Chain of Custody Product Manager, Mario Vieira, remembers "I always knew Chain of Custody would grow fast and I am pleased that we were able to obtain accreditation at our office. Obtaining Chain of Custody accreditation was not easy, but it was very well worth it. With the amount of volume we do, it only makes sense to have the accreditation here in North America."

The SGS SSC NA office holds numerous other accreditations and in addition to FSC, currently holds forestry accreditations to SFI (Sustainable Forestry Initiative) and PEFC (Program for Endorsement of Forestry Certification schemes), Chain of Custody through ANSI (accreditation #0828), and SFI Forest Management through ANAB (certificate # SGS-1097557-301009).