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."

"Since 2009 all our operations are FSC FM and CoC and additionally PEFC FM and CoC certified since 2018. [...] Today, we only source PEFC certified products from Central Europe or products complying with our Procurement Policy. If, despite all efforts, non-compliant deforestation or conversion should have occurred in our operations after 2009, we commit to reforest these areas to their original state."

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."

"Today, we only source PEFC certified products from Central Europe or products complying with our Procurement Policy. If, despite all efforts, non-compliant deforestation or conversion should have occurred in our operations after 2009, we commit to reforest these areas to their original state."

""We are convinced that strong partnerships are the only way to guarantee ecologically, socially and economically sustainable forest management. Especially in the field of training and research, we rely on the support of local and international educational institutions. The schools and universities, for their part, benefit from this partnership by being able to carry out their training and research locally and in a practical way. We cooperate with governmental and non-governmental organisations, especially in the field of environmental protection and species conservation, thus guaranteeing the preservation of fauna and flora. Of course, we also work closely with our sector organisations to strengthen the sustainable management of tropical forests." [...] "For example, we have been involved for some time in a large, transnational project to study forest dynamics in the Congo Basin. The current project phase, DynafFor ", is being carried out on large areas in our Gabon concession, among others. In Brazil, we maintain a network of permanent research plots to study forest dynamics in detail over the long term.""

"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

In 2021 Precious Woods report that they harvested 394,000 m3 of timber

"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. [...] Details of our FPIC and Grievance procedures are explained on page 12. Seven grievances were addressed in 2020. Most of them were solved to the satisfaction of all parties, and some grievances addressed in late 2020 will be solved in 2021. Our Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) procedures assure that all stakeholders have the same rights during decision making. "

Precious Woods report locations of mills, sawmills and other facilities via a PDF and interactive map - "BrazilPrecious Woods Amazon – MIL Madeiras Preciosas (MIL) owns 493 597 hectares of forest in Itacoatiara, 250 kilometres to the east of Manaus, Brazil, where the company has operated sustainable forestry since 1996. [....] Precious Woods AmazonMIL Madeiras Preciosas Ltda., Rodovia AM 363, KM 1.5, Zona Rural, Itacoatiara - Amazonas - Brazil, Zip Code (BR) 69109-899 [...] Precious Woods EnergiaMIL Energia Renovável Ltda., Rodovia AM 363, KM 1.5, Zona Rural, Itacoatiara - Amazonas- Brazil, Zip code (BR) 609109-899 [...] GabonSince 2007, Precious Woods has held majority shares in the companies Compagnie Equatoriale des Bois CEB and Tropical Gabon Industrie TGI in the Central African country of Gabon. [...] In East Gabon, Precious Woods­ - CEB manages a concession area of 596 800 hectares, where it harvests about 240 000 cubic metres of logs each year. At the same location, Precious Woods Gabon - CEB operates three sawmills, which have been further expanded since 2011. In Owendo, near Libreville, Precious Woods Gabon - TGI operates its own veneer plant for the production of certified rotary veneer.Precious Woods holds a 49% stake in the company Compagnie des Placages de la Lowé (CPL) in Gabon. CPL operates two veneer plants in Libreville and Owendo, near Libreville, and was formed in 2020 from the merger of Precious Woods' veneer plant TGI with the veneer factory PDG. [...] Precious Woods GabonCompagnie Equatoriale des Bois S.A., P.O. Box 2262, Rue Kringer Renjombé, Quartier Batterie IV, GA - Libreville"

"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."Link to documents: (Engagement)