28 April 2011

20,000th FSC CoC certificate marks the third milestone for FSC in two years

The 20,000th FSC chain of custody (CoC) certificate was awarded to the French company Oberthur Technologies on 18 March 2010. This is a significant milestone that marks the phenomenal growth of FSC certification in the past years.
The 15,000th FSC CoC certificate and the 1,000th Forest Management certificate were issued on 21 September and 5 October 2009 respectively.
The PaperSIM ©Oberthur TechnologiesOberthur Technologies is a leading provider of security and identification based on smart card technology and associated services for mobile, payment, transport, digital TV and convergence. The CoC certificate was given to their manufacturing plant in Vitré, France which produces mobile and banking cards. Vitré is the pilot plant for the development and industrialization of innovative products such as the sustainable PaperSIM cards made 100 per cent from paper. The PaperSIM card will carry the FSC label.
The process leading to FSC certification in Vitré was implemented within less than three months thanks to the experience, commitment and enthusiasm of the teams at the plant. “Today, we are extremely proud to announce the FSC certification of our French manufacturing plant in Vitré" said Xavier Drilhon, Managing Director, Card Systems Division at Oberthur Technologies.
"With the recent marketing launch of a natural high-tech card body composed of recyclable and biodegradable wood fibres SIM card, we have focused our efforts on being fully compliant with the FSC standards in order to certify and guarantee that the forest products we use are verified from the forest of origin and throughout the whole supply chain. This certification is particularly demanding and it is a great achievement for us that both our continuous efforts to protect the environment and our philosophy and values have been rewarded.”
FSC CoC certification tracks FSC certified material through the production process, from the forest to the consumer, including all successive stages of processing, transformation, manufacturing and distribution. There has been a significant increase in the number of FSC CoC certificates in the past years proving that FSC certification has become a driving factor in market success. Nearly thirty FSC CoC certificates were issued around the world on 5 October 2009 to mark the 15,000th CoC milestone.