The Board of Directors of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) has decided to end FSC’s disassociation from Dalhoff Larsen and Horneman (DLH) on a probationary basis.
This means that FSC can once again enter into trademark license agreements with DLH. The decision was taken after an analysis showed that DLH had made satisfactory progress towards the fulfillment of the conditions DLH had to meet in order to end the disassociation.
FSC disassociated from DLH in February 2015 when an impartial complaints panel concluded that DLH had been involved in illegal timber trade activities in Liberia. FSC gave DLH a set of conditions which, if satisfactorily fulfilled, would end the disassociation with the company. These included compensation for affected communities and a third-party verification of DLH’s due diligence systems.
In October 2015, DLH presented FSC with an action plan describing its activities to compensate the affected communities for the lost income they incurred as a consequence of illegal logging. These activities were agreed with the communities through the free, prior, and informed consent process conducted on the ground by the Sustainable Development Institute (SDI), a well-known, credible, and trusted local development organization. The action plan was approved by the FSC Board of Directors in November 2015.
In December 2015, DLH submitted further documentation showing the progress made in the fulfillment of all of FSC’s conditions. FSC concluded that the progress was satisfactory, and the FSC Board of Directors decided to end the disassociation from DLH on a probationary basis.
