Fraudulent claims can disrupt a supply chain, impacting businesses, workers, and forests. FSC´s blockchain verification technology aims to tackle fraudulent FSC claims and non-conforming forest materials and support “know your materials” compliance.
Why are materials compliance checks and traceability so important?
FSC-certified organizations are licenced to use the FSC trademarks for on-product labeling and promotional use and at the point of trade. FSC’s supply chain investigations and transaction verification allow FSC to investigate, uncover, and address fraudulent activities carried out by certified organizations.
What is the FSC Blockchain and how can it support integrity in FSC supply chains?
Blockchain is a record-keeping digital technology that registers transactions into a digital ledger that cannot be changed. Forest-related supply chains rely on paper systems, which have the potential for fraudulent claims to be made by tampering with or falsifying documentation.
Blockchain can fundamentally change how compliance and traceability of FSC materials across supply chains are verified using secure technology, breaking free from reliance on paper-based documentation exchanged amongst organizations to assert trade claims that materials are compliant. FSC-certified organizations would be able to support verification that the materials they trade are compliant and traceable to the source.
Blockchain pilot programme:
In 2021, FSC conducted a pilot programme to demonstrate blockchain technology’s ability to transform trade compliance verification, offering the opportunity to validate blockchain technology with real data.The pilot also helps determine the conditions that enable FSC to develop enhancements towards wider general availability to certified organizations in the future. Two supply chains in Ukraine and China participated in the pilot, where over 10,000 transactions were submitted, and more than 90 per cent of companies activated their accounts.
