OREANDA-NEWS  On 19 December was announced, that Ilimsky Lesnoy Center (a primary timber processing enterprise in the Irkutsk Oblast) was awarded a Chain of Custody Certificate in accordance with the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standard. The audit which confirmed compliance of the timber chain of custody with the strict FSC requirements was performed by GFA Consulting Group GmbH (Germany). The audit included the assessment of wood flow recording and control system of Ilimsky Lesnoy Center: from weighing the incoming wood and evaluating its quality all the way to delivering it to the customer. Staff training system, management tools and the level of process automation were also assessed.

The issued certificate will be valid through November 2013. During the entire certificate validity period there will be annual surveillance audits.

Ilim Group currently leases approximately 5 million hectares of FSC-certified forest, which makes the Company a leader in forest certification on voluntary basis in Russia. Certification of Ilim Group’s Head Office is envisioned as the next step.

The principal goal of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is to promote the environmentally responsible, socially oriented and economically sustainable forestry and management of global forest resources.

Ilimsky Lesnoy Center accepts the wood from logging companies, performs cross-cutting and sorting of the timber subsequently used by other Ilim Group locations to create value-added products.