PRINCIPLE #1: COMPLIANCE WITH LAWS AND FSC PRINCIPLES
Forest management shall respect all applicable laws of the country in which they occur, and international treaties and agreements to which the country is a signatory, and comply with all FSC Principles and Criteria.
Non-timber forest product harvest shall take place within the ethical and legal framework of international environmental and human rights law and policy, and national, state/provincial, and local laws in the country where forest management takes place.NTFP harvest and processing may involve laws and regulations not normally covered under a typical SmartWood assessment.Laws touching on NTFP harvest and use may fall under the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), national tenure and usufruct rights laws, and national forest management legislation.Collection of some NTFPs requires legal permits or licenses.
Furthermore, for comestible products, a variety of laws may govern quality control, transport, packaging and labeling requirements.Assessors must check with relevant government agencies and other stakeholders to verify that an operation is dealing with legal requirements for NTFP management, harvest, processing and sale in a responsible fashion.
1.1 Forest management shall respect all national and local laws and administrative requirements.
1.2 All applicable and legally prescribed fees, royalties, taxes and other charges shall be paid.
The FMO or NTFP harvester(s) maintains up-to-date harvesting permits, collecting licenses, collecting contracts or cultivation permits and duly pays any fees, leases, royalties etc.
1.3 In signatory countries, the provisions of all binding international agreements such as CITES, ILO Conventions, ITTA, and Convention on Biological Diversity, shall be respected.
NTFPs on CITES Appendix 1 are not being harvested.
1.4 Conflicts between laws, regulations and the FSC Principles and Criteria shall be evaluated for the purposes of certification, on a case by case basis, by the certifiers and the involved or affected parties.
Collection of forest resources (e.g. NTFPs, firewood, timber, game etc.) for commercial purposes by third party NTFP harvesters (e.g. local communities, individuals external to the FMO) throughout the forest management area is monitored, and if necessary, controlled.
1.5 Forest management areas should be protected from illegal harvesting, settlement and other unauthorised activities.