New Zealand Standards

It is intended for voluntary application to any forests in New Zealand being managed for the production of products and services, whether native or planted forests. Independent, third-party certification against the Australian and New Zealand Standard® for Sustainable Forest Management provides a clear and unambiguous statement that wood production in a particular defined forest area was managed in accordance with a set of predetermined and clearly defined environmental, economic, social and cultural performance requirements that supports sustainable management of forests.

The scope of the Australian Forest Certification Scheme forest management certification was extended to include the New Zealand Standard for Sustainable Forest Management (NZS AS 4708:2014). The NZS AS 4708:2014 was adopted from the Australian Standard for Sustainable Forest Management (AS 4708:2013) with a Trans Tasman Standard released in December 2021 (AS / NZS 4708). The adoption was prepared under the supervision of a committee established by Standards New Zealand under the Standards Act 1988.

The copyright in AS / NZS 4708:2021 is held by Responsible Wood, which granted a licence to Standards New Zealand for the sole purpose of incorporating material from that Standard into the NZ Standard. Standards New Zealand holds the copyright in the modifications made to the Standard for New Zealand purposes.