All AssiDomän forests FSC certified

All AssiDomän´s holdings of productive forest land, 3.3 million hectares in Sweden, are now certified according to the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) criteria. The last area, 350,000 hectares, recently received certification approval from the independent certifier SGS Forestry. AssiDomän´s certified forest area is almost one third of the total FSC- endorsed certified area worldwide, which amounts to 10 million hectares, according to the latest figures from WWF (Worldwide Fund for Nature). "This means that we now have fulfilled our ambition to have all our forest holdings certified during the first half of this year. FSC certification is an independent and internationally accepted confirmation that AssiDomän pursues an environmentally correct forestry. This is a prerequisite, not least from a market point of view, since an increasing number of customers demand that we live up to our environmental goals. The demand for FSC-labelled products is steadily increasing", AssiDomän´s President and CEO Lennart Ahlgren explained at a WWF conference in London on Tuesday (30 June). AssiDomän is also certifying its saw mills so that the orogin of products is guaranteed along the whole chain up to the customers and further on to consumers. This is called "chain-of-custody". The deliveries of FSC-endorsed sawn timber products from AssiDomän are 3 estimated to reach a volume of 100,000 m on an annual basis by the end of 1998. The first deliveries of certified sawn products started in late 1997 to Masons Timber Products in Great Britain, a supplier to Sainsbury´s Homebase. Since then demand has increased, and today FSC-labelled timber products are also shipped within Scandinavia and to Germany and The Netherlands. AssiDomän also has started deliveries of FSC-labelled pulp from its mill in Karlsborg in Northern Sweden. The deliveries are estimated to reach 20,000 tons during this year and are supplied to customers in Germany and Great Britain. FSC is an independent, international organisation, based in Mexico, supporting environmentally friendly, socially beneficial and economically viable management of the world´s forests. Its main activity is to accredit organisations which certify the quality of forest management. Sweden is the first country where national criteria have been agreed between forest industries, environmental organisations and social interests. AssiDomän is one of Europe´s leading forest industry companies. Production is concentrated to sawn timber products, packaging paper and packaging. The group is one of the world´s largest forest owners, with a turnover of 21 billion SEK in 1997. The number of employees amounts to some 18,000 people. For further information: Michael Eliasson, Business Development Director, AssiDomän Skog & Trä, +46-8 655 9000 mobile: +46-70 564 8201 AssiDomän Press Office, +46-8 655 9393 For photos, see AssiDomän´s Internet site: www.asdo.se ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1998/06/30/19980630BIT00080/certeng.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1998/06/30/19980630BIT00080/certeng.pdf