Verification of Supply Chain Certificate Validity and Scope Schedules
Verify certificate status against public scope schedules to ensure product group codes, grammages, and converting sites explicitly cover every delivered batch.
Product Group Codes
Standardised Categorization
Standardised categorization lists group certified paperboard, pulp, and converted packaging products into distinct families for audit and reporting purposes. Accredited forestry groups use product group codes to define which forest products are covered under a specific company’s chain of custody certificate. This coding system governs the generation of sales invoices and shipping documents, ensuring that every transaction can be traced to a specific material class.
It applies to all certified actors in the supply chain, from raw logging operations to the final printers and packaging converters.
Systematic Code
Every transaction involving certified board must include the appropriate alphanumeric code on the sales documents. For instance, paperboard is assigned a specific code that distinguishes it from solid wood products or roundwood. This code tells the buyer whether the material is virgin, recycled, or a mixture of both.
This distinction is necessary because the environmental claims on the final folding carton must match the material codes of the input boards. Auditors use these codes during their annual checks to verify that the volumes purchased under one code do not exceed the volumes sold under that same code, preventing mills from inflating their certified sales balances.
Invoice Integrity
Clear coding protects the supply chain from fraudulent claims and accidental mislabeling. It allows international customs and logistics companies to verify the certified status of incoming shipments without needing to read detailed material specifications. This structured record-keeping speeds up the audit process and secures the credibility of the environmental claim.