FSC is an international organization that provides a system for voluntary accreditation and independent third-party certification. This system allows certificate holders to market their products and services as the result of environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and economically viable forest management. FSC also sets standards for the development and approval of FSC Stewardship Standards which are based on the FSC Principles and Criteria. In addition, FSC sets standards for the accreditation of conformity assessment bodies (also known as certification bodies) that certify compliance with FSC's standards. Based on these standards, FSC provides a system for certification for organizations seeking to market their products as FSC certified.
Version 4-0 is still applicable to those territories which have FSC certified forests but do not have Forest Stewardship Standards based on Version 5-0. Version 4-0 is available for download here: FSC-STD-01-001 Principles and Criteria for Forest Stewardship V4-0