This new Responsible Business Platform will replace the current system whereby brand owners, suppliers and printers have to regularly re-log PEFC-certified papers online, to ensure certification is still valid.

The new system means stakeholders will only need to enter the information once, after which a traffic light system will alert them to the expiry or future expiry of a stock’s accreditation.

This is designed to significantly cut down PEFC accreditation-related administration, reported Thorsten Arndt, head of communications at PEFC.

“What people have to do currently is search at regular periods, using an online interface from 2001- so not very usable and very slow,” said Arndt. “So if you were a big company with lots of PEFC suppliers then essentially you had a person working one day a month or something like that, entering all the information and confirming that the company was certified.”

“Now there is a traffic light system which customers can customise, to give a yellow light for stocks that will expire in the next three months for instance. They won’t need to manually check each supplier anymore.”

PEFC has been trialling the system for the past six months, which is already being used “extensively” in Germany, reported Arndt. “We have been receiving very positive feedback,” he said.

The new system could be configured to integrate with a printers’ existing MIS and workflow systems, and to ensure EU timber regulation (EUTR) compliance, added Arndt.

The system’s launch follows other key paper certification body FSC delaying the launch of its Online Claims Platform (OCP). 

The platform requires FSC certified stakeholders to input more information, more regularly, on FSC certified papers used, to improve supply chain integrity. Mandatory use of the system was slated for late 2013. But following feedback that this would present a significant extra administrative burden for paper suppliers and printers, it has been delayed while FSC gathers further stakeholder feedback.

The PEFC platform can be found at www.responsiblebusinessplatfrom.org when it goes live over the next few days.