Scope of the Regional Forest Stewardship Standard for Asia Pacific extended to Natural Forests

FSC has published four revised national adaptations of the FSC Regional Forest Stewardship Standard for Asia Pacific (AP RFSS), based on FSC Principles and Criteria V5-2 for Smallholders in India, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. The standards became effective on 15 August 2025. 

Building on the success of the pilot test (see the update here), FSC has approved these partial revisions (V1-1) of the nationally adapted standards, extending their scope to include natural forests under 20 hectares.  

What’s new for Smallholders? 

Smallholders can now certify non-timber forest products (NTFPs) and ecosystem services from natural forest areas below 20 hectares by applying nationally adapted AP RFSS (Note: Rough wood from natural forests remains excluded from the scope).  

According to the FSC Product Classification, eligible products include:

• Edible products: fruits, nuts, seeds, honey
• Plant-based materials: latex rubber, resins, oils
• Craft and construction materials: bamboo, rattan  

The scope of the standards continues to cover timber harvesting from forest plantations management units below 20 hectares.  The revised standards are available to download in FSC Document Centre:  

• India
• Indonesia
• Thailand
• Vietnam

Action Required:

CBs operating in India, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam are required to inform all their clients about the English (official) version of the respective FSC standard immediately. When using this FSC standard version V1-1, certification bodies shall address major and minor nonconformities as usual. 

For any inquiries, please contact FSC Country Requirements Programme at country_requirements@fsc.org.