Interim rule regarding Intact Forest Landscapes extended until 30 June 2026

The Board of Directors has approved the extension of the interim rule in ADV-20-007-18 V2-0 which outlines rules related to the protection of Intact Forest Landscapes (IFLs). The interim rule has been extended until 30 June 2026. 

During the General Assembly in 2022, the FSC membership approved Motion 23:2020, which mandates FSC to “review and revise the current approach to achieving effective IFL conservation; and enable and guide SDGs to identify and recommend improvements to FSC’s normative frameworks (especially the International Generic Indicators (IGIs), including Annex H), to strengthen approaches for identification, protection, maintenance and/or enhancement of HCV2s, including IFL conservation at landscape level in National / Regional Standards.”

The motion also asked for an interim solution outlined in ADV-20-007-18 V2. This interim solution allows forest management operations in countries where there is no Forest Stewardship Standard (FSS) based on International Generic Indicators V2 to proceed on a need’s basis beyond the 80% protection threshold and up to +50% if additional conditions in the advice note are met. This advice note applies only to operations in Latin America, including the Amazon, or Central Africa.

While the review and revision process is ongoing, pilots are being registered and implemented to test the implementation of Motion 23 as developed in collaboration with the Focus Forests Advisory Group (FFAG), and until a comprehensive global approach has been developed and agreed upon, FSC was requested to extend the validity of the interim rule.

In June 2024, ADV-20-007-18 V3 was approved to extend the interim rule from 31 December 2024 until 30 June 2026. By this date, the transfer to FSS based on Principles and Criteria V5 will have been completed, and the relevant standards will be effective no later than 1 July 2026. By this date, either a solution based on Motion 23 will be in place, or the Standard Development Group will have reflected the 50% protection threshold in their FSS.

The implementation of Motion 23 has reached an important milestone with the commencement of pilots for its implementation. A webinar is scheduled to introduce FSC stakeholders to the work related to Motion 23 and the upcoming pilots on 11 July 2024, 16.00 CEST.

Please use the link here to register to the webinar.

The ADV-20-007-18 V3 is compiled under the FSC Directive on FSC Forest Management Evaluations, which has also been updated to include updates to ADV-20-007-02 Certification of primary forests and the new ADV-20-007-24 Deforestation-free products from FSC certified management units related to FSC Aligned Certification for EUDR. The updated FSC Directive on FSC Forest Management Evaluations is available in English and Spanish. The French version will be available in September.

For more information, please visit:

Revision of requirements for Intact Forest Landscapes (IFL) conservation | FSC Connect