In December 2024, FSC UK announced a moratorium on trademark enforcement action relating to BPMA members, to remain in place until the revised FSC trademark standard comes into force.

Following the new standard coming into effect on 1st July, FSC UK have confirmed the moratorium has come to an end and from September 2026, trademark enforcement will resume. Certificate holders have a 2.5 year transition period to adopt the revised standard (until 31st December 2028).

Under the FSC system, manufacturers using FSC-certified materials must obtain FSC’s Chain of Custody Certification to use the FSC label. For resellers and brands who purchase finished and FSC-labelled products, an FSC Promotional Licence is required to make any FSC-related claims and promotion. This includes product listings, advertising and website content.

In some cases where content may originate from third-party suppliers or automated feeds, your business may not be exempt from trademark liability and you may still be considered as “using” the trademark, even if the data originates elsewhere.

We advise that you ensure websites, product descriptions, images and marketing only display FSC trademarks if you hold the relevant FSC Chain of Custody Certification or Promotional Licence.

Guidance: Use the FSC trademarks

Revised Standard Key Updates:

• Phase out of the “Forests for All Forever” mark
• Introduction of an FSC QR label, providing direct product-level access to FSC details
• The requirements for on-product mandatory labelling have been updated, to further standardise labelling internationally
• Greater flexibility in graphic design rules, including layout, placement and size
• Dual-labelling alongside other certification marks is now permitted, although still under defined conditions
• A new addendum has been published, providing certificate holders with ready-to-use, approved promotional statements. The purpose of this is to avoid greenwashing and use harmonised FSC messaging globally – FSC-STD-50-001a Promotional Statements for Certificate Holders (Version 1-0)

FSC-STD-50-001 – Use of the FSC Trademarks by Certificate Holders Standard (STD) – Version (3-0)

FSC have published a guidance document for certificate holders, which can be downloaded here:
Guidance for V3-0 – Use of the FSC Trademarks by Certificate Holders (V1-0)

If you have questions, please contact the FSC Trademark Team trademark@fsc.org for further guidance and support.