Getting started with FSC Trace

To assist users with the onboarding process and daily use of FSC Trace, we will provide a comprehensive range of support materials. These resources will be available directly on FSC Trace platform and will include both written guides and video tutorials. To cater to our global user base, these materials will be accessible in multiple languages, ensuring clarity and ease of understanding for everyone.

Additionally, we are committed to offering ongoing support through regular training sessions. Throughout 2024 and 2025, we will host bimonthly information and training sessions. These sessions are designed to help users familiarize themselves with the platform, understand its functionalities, and stay updated with any new features or updates. This blend of resources and live support is part of our commitment to making the transition to and usage of the FSC Trace as smooth and efficient as possible for all our users.

You can sign up for the planned webinars for 2024 here.

Trading parties must agree on the following for a transaction to be written to the Blockchain:

Who your trading partners are (down to FSC license code)

• Invoice date
• Product category
• Species composition
• Quantity (either volume or weight)

Once one of the trading parties has uploaded to FSC Trace details of a transaction, all the details will be visible to the other trading party on FSC Trace app, with the exception of Quantity. For a transaction to be matched and written to the Blockchain the second trading party must also enter the quantity. The two figures must be identical within an error margin of ±2%.

Note that it is not necessary to use FSC Trace user interface to match individual transactions. You can use the bulk upload and API channels to upload transaction data: if it matches with data already provided by your counterparty, a match will automatically be made, and the transaction written to FSC Trace.

Since data on a blockchain is immutable, entered data cannot be deleted once submitted. But of course, mistakes during entering will occur, and therefore it is possible to record corrections to data that has already been entered on FSC Trace.

Similar to how edits are captured in accounting systems, FSC Trace will record the updated information as a new entry which is marked as a correction to the original entry. If the edit is done to a validated transaction, the change will have to be agreed with your trading partner, and the supply chain status will change from “validated” to “unvalidated” with this visible to all downstream trading partners.

There are several methods for uploading data: 

• Direct Entry: Individual transactions can be recorded directly via the application website. This method is most appropriate to small companies with only occasional trades, and when first learning how FSC Trace works.
• Bulk Uploads: Companies can opt for bulk uploads of spreadsheets, which can cover multiple transactions over a specific period. This method is efficient for managing large volumes of data.
• API Integration: Certificate holders can also choose to integrate their internal systems with FSC Trace using an Application Programming Interface (API).

A key aspect of FSC Trace is its capability to automatically handle various elements of the FSC certification process. This includes the automatic generation of Material Accounting Records and volume summaries.

It will also maintain a list of trading partners and periodically verify their ongoing certification. By automating these tasks, FSC Trace will relieve certificate holders from the need to manage these lists externally, significantly reducing their administrative burden.

You have the flexibility to decide the extent to which you use FSC Trace for managing your products.  

It's entirely possible to use the blockchain for only a selection of your products. This selective usage allows you to tailor the blockchain's benefits to your specific needs, whether for certain product lines, markets, or compliance requirements. 
 
However, it's important to note that if FSC Trace is not used for all products, the generated volume summaries may not encompass your entire operation, which could impact the comprehensiveness of data available for FSC audits. The choice is yours, offering a scalable solution tailored to your business's unique requirements and strategic goals.

FSC Controlled Wood, which are forest-based products verified as low risk and permissible in limited volumes within the FSC system, will be fully supported by FSC Trace.

The easiest way to introduce FSC Controlled Wood is to source from forests which are directly certified to the FSC Controlled Wood Standard. These forests will as part of their certification process be able to supply all required information and have been verified by a certification body as low risk.

However, in the FSC system it is also possible to introduce FSC Controlled Wood from forests of low risk, which are not certified. Companies doing this must already implement a Due Diligence System to ensure appropriate controls on these inputs are applied. Such companies will be able to enter relevant data on the sources of their Controlled Wood supplies directly into FSC Trace.

Collecting geolocation data is the responsibility of the forest manager; there are various technologies and tools available on the market that can assist with this.  

In FSC Trace there is a dedicated but optional field for the forest manager to upload this data – specifically on the harvesting block (as required by EUDR). 

As with all data uploaded to FSC Trace, this geolocation data can be shared with downstream participants, but always at the option of the data owner – in this case the forest manager – who provided the data in the first place.

In the initial stages of FSC Trace's deployment, there is no automatic validation for the correctness of the recorded harvest locations. However, plans are in place to introduce functionality in 2024 that will verify uploaded GeoJson files against the certified forest management area. This step ensures that the data provided accurately reflects the scope of the certificate, enhancing the trust and reliability of the information within FSC Trace.

FSC Trace integrates with the FSC Credit system, facilitating detailed tracking and management of forest product transactions.  

Users can navigate through three phases for each product: incoming volume, production process, and sales. This system enables certificate holders to accurately combine volumes for production, creating detailed records of raw material usage (including geolocation and time of harvest if available.).  

For the FSC Credit system, certificate holders will be able to specify inventory usage rules, like first in, first out, to manage production batches effectively, even when the production isn't batch-controlled. This flexibility ensures that the blockchain supports various operational models within the FSC system. (Rule based allocation of inventory will not be available in the initial months of FSC Trace Beta Trials.)

FSC Trace is designed with flexibility in mind, accommodating various production processes, including those not managed in batches.  

In such scenarios users will be able to use different criteria, e.g. date ranges or first-in-first-out rules, to select the inputs which could have contributed to a set of outputs. This approach aligns with regulatory requirements, such as under EUDR, in which you can specify a super-set of known supply sources from which the actual specific sources are not known for a given product, but where it is known that it contains no forest product contents from sources outside that super-set.   

It is important to note that rule based inventory allocation will not be available as a functionality in the first months of FSC Trace Beta Trials.

Data on reclaimed materials, defined as previously used resources that are repurposed or recycled, are entered into FSC Trace at the point in the supply chain where they are reincorporated into new products. This capability is exclusive to certificate holders who are authorized to handle reclaimed materials, ensuring that the introduction and subsequent tracking of these materials are conducted by parties with the necessary qualifications and oversight. 

To enhance the transparency and credibility of reclaimed materials within FSC Trace, certificate holders are enabled to upload verifiable documentation that attests to the recycled status of the materials.  

FSC Trace is adept at handling the complexity of products composed of multiple species, a common scenario in the forest products industry. When configuring a product within FSC Trace, certificate holders have the option to specify if a product may include multiple species.

In the current iteration of FSC Trace Beta, forest owners are required to upload geolocation data for harvest sites individually using GeoJSON files. This format ensures precise and standardized capture of geographical data but does not currently support the grouping of multiple locations into a single entry. This means that each harvest site must be entered separately, ensuring clarity and specificity in the traceability of forest products. 

However, recognizing the need for greater flexibility and efficiency in managing geolocation data, FSC Trace team plans to enhance the platform's capabilities to include the storage of geolocation data and the ability to group multiple harvest sites. This future feature will enable forest owners to more easily manage and report on the geolocation of their harvest sites, especially when operations cover multiple nearby locations. 

Staying informed about updates and new features in FSC Trace is easy by following our product roadmap, which will be detailed on the upcoming product page for FSC Trace.  

In FSC Trace, the journey of a product is segmented into three distinct phases: incoming volume, production process, and sales. 

When recording production processes, the input products contributing to a specific batch of outputs are recorded. Data attached to those inputs, including original geolocations and harvesting times, can thus be attached to the output products, maintaining traceability back to the point(s) of origin. 

For FSC Credit system this combination will happen based on rules. (See more under How does FSC Trace work with the Credit system?)

FSC Trace is designed to accommodate the complexities of real-world transactions, including invoices that feature multiple products. Recognizing the diversity of products that can be included in a single transaction, the system treats each line on an invoice as a separate transaction item. This ensures detailed traceability and verification for each product, regardless of how they are grouped in financial documents. 

Here's how it functions: 

• Individual Line Entries: Each line on an invoice is entered into FSC Trace as a separate line item. This can be done through batch uploads using Excel, where each line represents a different product, or through individual entries on the web application. 
• Flexibility in Product Management: By treating each product line as a separate claim, FSC Trace allows for greater flexibility in managing and tracking products. Products from different invoices or suppliers can be combined or traced individually in the following stages of production or sales. 
• Enhanced Traceability: This method prevents the aggregation of product data into a single, indistinguishable batch. Instead, it maintains the distinct identity of each product, facilitating precise traceability across your own company and into that of your customers.

FSC Trace is an evolution of our existing systems for ensuring integrity in our certification process. Currently, we must rely on Transaction Verification and subsequent investigations to detect potential systematic fraud. These methods, while effective, can often be used retrospectively, identifying issues after they have occurred and potentially reached consumers. It also involves a complex process with multiple parties to maintain confidentiality in business relationships.

In contrast, FSC Trace improves efficiency and provides timely, verified information, while still protecting the privacy of business interactions. This approach allows for quicker, more proactive responses and enhances our ability to detect and address issues before they escalate, thus protecting the credibility of FSC and our certified organizations.

No. FSC Trace provides traceability for all forest-based products that FSC certifies, including timber, paper and Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) like rubber, bamboo or honey.

Once rolled out, FSC Trace will be open to FSC certificate holders who have a FSC certificate or promotional licence agreement.

FSC Trace is designed exclusively for trading products with FSC claims. It cannot be used for non-certified products at this time. (It can be used for FSC Controlled Wood. See below.)

FSC Trace will become fully integrated with forthcoming FSC tools, including Due Diligence Reporting Systems. We are actively exploring ways to make FSC Trace interoperable with other systems, including through APIs, to allow full flexibility for users to integrate with tools that best fit their needs.   

Our goal is to ensure flexibility for our certificate and licence holders, allowing them to choose the digital tools that best fit their company's setup. We have designed FSC Trace to be interoperable, enabling our licence holders to exchange data and information within and across organisations. 

The primary mechanisms for supporting interoperability will be an Application Programming Interface (API), and the ability to add custom fields, through which you can add external unique identifiers to products and transactions, and thus allow you to reference specific records in other IT systems you choose to use.  

We will update the page with more information on  specific integrations that we build. 

FSC is committed to using industry-standard data frameworks wherever possible. The Blockchain data formats and API will follow the standards set out in the ISEAL Core Metadata Standard, developed in collaboration with the ISEAL Alliance of sustainability labelling schemes

Use of FSC Trace is intended to make chain of custody auditing easier for both certificate holders and auditors. Records kept in FSC Trace will in the future be able to replace the current paper trail used by certification bodies during the audit process. Documents relevant to any point in the supply chain, such as harvest permits, can be digitally attached to transactions recorded in FSC Trace. Certificate holders will have access to dedicated reporting functions designed to provide all relevant data required during an audit.

FSC Trace itself does not directly validate or request copies of invoices. Instead, it operates on a consensus mechanism where both trading partners must agree on the details of a transaction—product type, volume, species, and invoice number—before a claim is verified. This agreement process acts as an indirect validation of the invoice details, ensuring consistency and accuracy in the data recorded on the blockchain

Joining the platform will be entirely voluntary, offering certificate holders the flexibility to integrate FSC Trace seamlessly into their operations. 

Absolutely, FSC Trace offers significant value even if only your company is participating. It facilitates the verification of your suppliers' certification status, eliminating the need for manual monitoring on search.fsc.org. Additionally, if you input all your trade data into the blockchain, it will automatically generate species lists, product group lists, and volume summaries. The full potential, especially regarding compliance with regulations like the European Union Regulation on Deforestation-free Products (EUDR), is realized when the entire supply chain participates. This enables the seamless transfer of crucial data such as geolocation and time of harvest throughout the supply chain. 

FSC Promotional Licence Holders (PLHs), who trade with FSC-certified finished and labelled goods without altering them, will be able to use FSC Trace, once it is rolled out for all user groups. 

The platform is free for FSC certificate holders. Access to the basic functionality is included within the existing fees paid by FSC licence holders. We may add paid premium features in the future. We are also looking into interoperability with other platforms. There may be additional fees to help cover our costs of providing this technology. 

FSC Trace is in beta release until November 2024. In this phase we are collaborating with selected supply chains to test and refine the system. Our focus is to ensure its reliability and effectiveness.

FSC licence holders, who are taking part in the Beta phase, will be able to invite a limited number of their trading partners into the trial. You may therefore be invited by your trading partner to join them as an early adopter and Beta user of FSC Trace. From 2024 Q2, the Beta phase will be expanded to further participants in a priority access scheme. If you would like your organization to be included in that priority access scheme, please register your interest here.

From November 2024 access to FSC Trace will be rolled out to all FSC certificate holders.

Stay informed of progress on the development and rollout plans by joining our reoccurring webinars, which you can sign up to here.

FSC Trace users can view their direct trading partners—customers and suppliers—similar to the current FSC system. However, while direct visibility is limited, the blockchain facilitates the movement of data between trading partners further downstream, subject to the control of the data owner, allowing for enhanced traceability and integrity without compromising confidentiality. 

FSC Trace is designed to support and enhance the transparency and integrity of FSC-certified products within the certified supply chain. Currently, FSC Trace is exclusively available to FSC licence holders. Companies who are not FSC licence holders cannot use the blockchain to receive claims and data, and would be dependent on certified suppliers to download and share specific data with them manually on a case-by-case basis.