NEWS & VIEWS • MARCH 2025 11 Controlled Wood (or Controlled Material) is timber that complies to a lower standard. This lower standard includes legally harvested timber, which in our context is taken to mean timber that is not stolen. Controlled wood evaluation includes the application of a due diligence system to minimise the inclusion of undesirable timber. For NCT this includes the use of the supplier’s Code of Conduct, source declaration form completion, use of the NCT app to pinpoint the source and state of the timber. Controlled wood is vital to NCT as our own mills cannot physically separate chips, and to claim credits for certified timber, this may not be mixed with anything except controlled wood (the claim is then made on a percentage basis). Chain-of-Custody (CoC) refers to the ability to be able to track or trace the timber along the entire supply chain, i.e. from harvest source, the transport, delivery to market, sale on to the next market and so on. For example, timber grown on a forest management certified unit is sold as certified, this timber is tracked and the certification credit for this timber is recorded along the chain. Coupled to this tracking and tracing is material accounting (once certified and controlled material are mixed). Material accounting is vital in that it informs the he essence of certification Certification Manager – amount of credit that can be claimed when selling material. CoC forms an integral portion of demonstrating compliance with EUDR. EUDR adds another layer to certification in that NCT is now required to be able pinpoint the compartment from where all timber is sourced. In the case of suppliers with no data in NCT’s geodatabase, NCT requires that suppliers use the NCT App to provide an image of the prospective timber supply using the app. This image is geo-referenced and NCT uses this geo-reference to map the block of timber (adding this to the NCT geodatabase). Members whose timber is already mapped will use the NCT App to place their orders, adding the compartment number that they will be supplying from. The underlying theme is that NCT is obliged (and wants) to only source timber that is ethically (and legally) grown and harvested and supplied along a transparent (and legal) supply chain from a source that can be verified. In addition, our markets are demonstrating an appetite for more certified timber, over and above what we are already supplying. To be clear: NCT is in no rush to accept any timber against which we have even the slightest doubt or concern. If we have doubt, we walk away so as to not jeopardise the greater whole.
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