Short answer
An FSC Chain of Custody certificate proves that a company has an audited system for keeping certified material separate from uncertified material, and that it is entitled to sell products with an FSC claim. It does not prove that the specific panels in your container are certified — that depends on the claim stated on the invoice, which must name the FSC claim type such as FSC 100%, FSC Mix or FSC Controlled Wood. Verify by searching the licence code in the public FSC certificate database, checking the certificate is valid on the invoice date, and confirming the product group covers plywood rather than only sawn timber.
How do I verify a licence code in two minutes?
Search the code in the FSC public certificate search. Read four fields: certificate status, valid-from and valid-to dates, the certificate holder's legal name, and the product scope. Then compare the legal name against the company on your invoice. A mismatch between the certificate holder and the seller is the most common problem and the easiest to catch.
Our published certificates are shown with their validity dates so you can check them against the search yourself rather than taking a scan at face value. A scan proves an image existed; the database proves the certificate is live today.
What do the claim types mean?
FSC 100% means all material comes from FSC-certified forests. FSC Mix means a controlled combination of certified, recycled and controlled-wood inputs under a percentage or credit system. FSC Controlled Wood is not a certified-material claim at all — it is a risk-mitigation category confirming the wood is not from unacceptable sources. Buyers often assume they bought the first and actually bought the third.
The claim must appear on the invoice, not only on a certificate. An invoice without a claim is an uncertified sale, whatever certificates the seller holds. If your customer needs an FSC claim downstream, this line on the invoice is the whole transaction.
Where do FSC claims go wrong in practice?
Three ways, in order of frequency. The certificate belongs to a related company rather than the seller. The product group on the certificate covers a different product than the one invoiced. And the claim is missing from the invoice entirely because nobody in the sales office knew it had to be there. All three are caught by reading the certificate and the invoice side by side before payment.
Questions buyers ask about this
Does FSC certification make my EUDR filing easier?+
It helps and does not suffice. A certified supply chain already tracks material flows, keeps supplier records and undergoes annual audits, so the infrastructure EUDR needs is mostly there. But FSC does not require plot geolocation and EUDR does, so the geolocation layer has to be added on top. Treat FSC as a strong starting position, not as the answer.
Can a Vietnamese mill supply FSC 100% plywood?+
For plantation acacia and eucalyptus, yes, where the plantations themselves are certified — and Vietnam has substantial certified smallholder plantation area. For panels combining certified core with uncertified imported veneer, the achievable claim is FSC Mix at a stated percentage. Ask which claim the mill can put on the invoice before you build a marketing position on it.
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