Precious Woods Holding AG

Most of the commitments made throughout this report also apply to our suppliers. They must respect the principles of FPIC, workers’ rights, gender equality, indigenous and local communities’ rights, and legal and customary land rights. [...] Suppliers shall [...] always respect Fundamental ILO Conventions or Free and Fair Labour Principles."; " It is also imperative that we comply with international law and international conventions. These include the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the rules of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labour Organization (ILO)"

"We only accept products in our supply chain produced under FSC or PEFC certification or in compliance with our Procurement Policy. It often appears difficult for small-scale producers in tropical areas to meet these criteria. Therefore, we promote small-scale producers in our supply chain that meet these requirements or strive towards compliance. We do, for example, partner with FSC certified cooperatives in South-America composed of several small-scale producers."

"We [...] strongly support all initiatives striving towards an equal inclusion of women in the working world, especially in regions or sectors where men still represent most of the workforce. [...] Since 2016, Precious Woods Holding Ltd hired two female consultants, specialists in social work and education. One of their tasks was to assist Precious Woods in Gabon to tackle women’s education and gender equality. The long-term objectives are to have a more qualified female workforce available for our operations and to create a better business environment for women in general; The local management does actively attempt to increase the female workforce. In cooperation with local educational facilities we offer regular trainee programs with a high share of female trainees in order to make our company better known amongst and more attractive for young female professionals."

Our Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) procedures assure that all stakeholders have the same rights during decision making. [...] They must respect the principles of FPIC, workers’ rights, gender equality, indigenous and local communities’ rights, and legal and customary land rights"; "We require all these suppliers to be either FSC or PEFC certified which implies that they respect the principles of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) in the scope of their certified operations."

"Precious Woods believes that steady progress through research is the best way to make sustainable forest management the only viable business model for forestry, today and in the future. [...] Our close ties to national and international research institutions allow everyone involved to carry out research close to practice at our sites and also facilitate valuable exchanges between the private sector and public institutions. We work closely together with numerous partners, including the World Conservation Society (WCS), the University of Science and Technology of Masuku (USTM), the Federal University of Amazonas (UFAM), Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech (ULiège), Nature+, and the Bern University of Applied Sciences (BFH-HAFL)"

"Every supplier must be assessed before products are purchased or traded for the first time. • Every supplier must be assessed annually. Country or product category specific procedures can require more frequent assessments. • Re-assessments can be performed as often as necessary for current suppliers, new suppliers and suspended suppliers. [...] If all necessary information has been gathered successfully, the country and product specific risks must be assessed. The assessment aims to identify if the risk for illegal activities throughout the whole supply chain is negligible. Therefore, the following aspects are assessed. 1. Corruption and transparency in the country of origin 2. Occurrence or risk of armed conflict 3. Forest governance and law enforcement 4. Risk of illegal activities 5. Supply chain 6. International sanctions and legislation 7. CITES compliance. [...] We do not accept any wood or timber supply to our processing or trading activities that is: [...] harvested in forests in which High Conservation Values (HCV) are threatened by management activities [...] harvested in forests being converted to plantations or non-forest use"

"Forest Management (FM) and Chain of Custody (CoC) certifications of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Project for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) are the strictest forest certifications schemes worldwide. If a company is certified against one of these standards, their wood does fulfil all legal requirements and much beyond. [...] The aim of this due diligence is to assure that a product has a negligible risk for illegal activities throughout the supply chain. [...] The assessment aims to identify if the risk for illegal activities throughout the whole supply chain is negligible. [...] Therefore, the following aspects are assessed. [...] Risk of illegal activities"

Precious Woods report a total of 162 329 m3 of Precious Woods timber products 2020. Harvest volumes are also reported in their annual report.

The Woods timber products 2020 are 93.02 % FSC certified and 100% PEFC certified. 

"Since 2009 all our operations are FSC FM and CoC and additionally PEFC FM and CoC certified since 2018. Besides having a sustainable social, economic, and ecological impact, certification obliges us to monitor and verify social and environmental indicators as well as our supply chain constantly. These activities and compliance with certification requirements are checked annually by accredited and independent auditors."

Precious Woods Holdings reported the location of their certified land holdings and land holdings under conservation in Gabon, and the location of their company-owned processing facilities in Brazil.

"All Precious Woods operations are double certified against the Forest Stewardship Council® FSC® and the Project for the Endorsement of Forest CertificationTM PEFCTM certification schemes." "Since 2009 all our operations are FSC FM and CoC certified, additionally, since 2018 all operations are PEFC FM and CoC certified2 . Compliance with the certification is checked annually by accredited and independent auditors3 . Non-compliance would lead to the suspension and loss of the certification."

"Every supplier must be assessed before products are purchased or traded for the first time. […] Every supplier must be assessed annually. Country or product category specific procedures […] can require more frequent assessments. […] Re-assessments can be performed as often as necessary for current suppliers, new suppliers and suspended suppliers." “As part of our trading activities, we also trade with wood from other producers, which must also all be certified according to either the FSC or PEFC standard.”

"New Suppliers failing to pass the assessment are not accepted. Transition periods are not accepted. • Current suppliers that fail to pass the annual assessment are immediately discarded. Transition periods are not accepted."