Insights and reflections from FSC’s Annual Meeting with assurance partners

Every year, FSC International organizes its flagship event with accredited certification bodies (CBs) and Assurance Services International (ASI) – the Annual FSC-CB Meeting in Bonn, Germany. It represents a forum for active discussions, calibrations, and engagement opportunities. CBs are independent organizations who are accredited to issue FSC certificates and manage the whole certification process. 

This is one of the most important events FSC organizes that focuses on FSC’s assurance system, normative changes affecting the work of the different actors in this system, digital innovations, and normative alignment with international policy developments.  

At the opening session of the Annual FSC-CB Meeting 2025, FSC Director General Subhra Bhattacharjee emphasized, “Our certification bodies play a critical role in ensuring the integrity and rigour of the FSC system. It is through them that we see our standards implemented on the ground and how we get to know where the challenges and gaps are. We need their ideas, feedback, and support to realize FSC’s mission.” 

Over 100 people representing FSC’s 47 accredited CBs, training providers, ASI, and FSC International attended this year’s Meeting. Sarah Kutulakos, Regional Director for North America, and Alan Rigolo, Technical Coordinator at FSC Brazil and representative of the Forest Management Community (FMC) also attended the 2025 Meeting as observers to ensure that key takeaways and discussions are shared with FSC’s regional and national offices. 

The sessions in this year’s meeting offered a full agenda combining presentations with interactive discussions and breakout sessions. While day one set the tone with strategic dialogue on market outlooks, regulatory alignment, and future innovations, day two focused on integrity, emphasizing oversight, assurance, and auditor independence as pillars of system credibility. Day three focused on forest management, with updates on projects and ongoing impact monitoring initiatives, as well as ways to ensure the integrity in High Conservation Values and Intact Forest Landscapes. Ways of protecting and strengthening the integrity of FSC’s certification system were embedded throughout the meeting’s sessions. 

Perspectives  

Participants shared their experiences and takeaways with FSC at the meeting. Here’s what they said, in their own words. 

Christan Kobel, Global Head of Nature Services at SGS Business Assurance said, “This annual meeting provided the opportunity to network with colleagues from FSC, ASI and other Certification Bodies, discuss key issues and gain new insights. It gave us a chance to refresh and re-energize our efforts to continue offering Forest Management and Chain of Custody Certification as part as our IMPACT NOW for sustainability services.” 

Sarah Kutulakos reflected, “It was an honour to represent the global network at last week’s CB conference in Bonn. The conference was an enlightening window into how CBs perceive FSC. My favourite session was a set of case studies of dilemmas that a CB and their auditors might encounter, such as being threatened by a certificate holder who learned that their audit result contained nonconformities. CB representatives from around the world offered very useful perspectives on how they deal with such a situation.” 

After the event, Alan Rigolo commented, “The CB Meeting was a truly valuable experience. It broadened my perspective on FSC International’s initiatives, strengthened connections and bonds with colleagues, and deepened my understanding of critical CB perspectives to maintain the success of the FSC system. I returned to Brazil with an even stronger sense of the collaborative work between FSC International and Network Partners, and great admiration for the dedication and quality of the actions led by so many at FSC.” 

Recommendations from the participants 

FSC also received recommendations and suggestions from CBs on ways to enhance future CB meetings, emphasizing the need for deeper engagement and improved accessibility. 

Hubert Jurczyszyn, Scheme Manager, FSC and RSPO SCC from Control Union, highlighted the importance of focusing on CB-relevant topics said, “Since it is a CB meeting where CBs are interested in their topics most, we would love to see more time for discussion on CB-relevant topics, such as normative framework implementation. It is important for us CBs to understand what is the outcome of this meeting – meaning how this meeting is impacting FSC operations in those areas which are key for CBs' operations.” 

Echoing this call for more interaction, Ricardo Cardoso, ESG and Forest Certification Manager from Imaflora noted that while the content was more relevant than in previous years, the format could better support meaningful dialogue. “This year, more relevant issues were discussed than in previous years. However, since the subjects are so relevant to CBs, we need more time to structure the questions and answers. It would be good for FSC to try and find a way to structure an agenda that has more time for interactions.” 

Adding a fresh perspective as a newly accredited CB, Jamie Tang, Sue Keen from Cotecna Inspection SA appreciated the interactive nature of the sessions but suggested, “As a CB recently accredited for FSC, it was very informative, and we found it a bit more interactive than expected. It was nice to have a Q&A after every session. One recommendation for a future event is to consider the language of speakers. It would be nice if presenters would speak slower and avoid using acronyms.” 

Reflections from FSC International 

Sara Anselmi, Certification, Performance and Relations (CPR) manager at FSC International said, “I think one nice thing was to see the level of exchange going on among FSC, ASI and CBs. It was the realization that we – FSC, the system owner, ASI, the assurance provider, and CBs – need to keep collaborating and exchanging to successfully contribute to the FSC system... Having worked in a CB, I know how important it is to interact with the system owner, so I was really positively surprised to see this continuous engagement throughout the whole event. It also allowed me to realize the complexity of FSC's assurance system and the operational challenges faced by CBs on a daily basis. In a way, it allowed me to see how important it is to continue to build the relationship that FSC has with CBs via continuous communication and regular events (trialogues, CB meeting). Only in this way all parties can improve and try to build a better system from this experience.”  

Looking ahead 

The Annual FSC-CB Meeting remains a cornerstone in FSC’s annual assurance calendar. It is not just a procedural gathering, but a strategic opportunity for FSC to engage in open dialogue with its key partners – CBs, training providers and ASI. Through collaborative discussions, shared insights, and constructive feedback, this meeting helps strengthen the integrity of FSC’s certification system and aligns efforts across the assurance network. It reflects FSC’s commitment to transparency, continuous improvement, and partnership-driven progress in delivering credible certification. 

FSC will host its next Annual CB Meeting in 2026 and will incorporate participants' recommendations in shaping next year’s meeting. CBs will have the opportunity to propose agenda items through the CB Steering Group Coordinator, and further input will be collected through other engagements conducted throughout the year. 

Stay tuned for updates on timing and format.