WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/CTE/W/108
16 February 1999
(99-0611)
Committee on Trade and Environment Original:  English
ENVIRONMENTAL CERTIFICATION FOR LEATHER
AND FORESTRY PRODUCTS
ITEM 3(B)
Submission by Brazil
I. INTRODUCTION
1. The Brazilian Association for Standardization (Associação Brasileira de Normas Técnicas –
ABNT) is developing two new environmental certifications.  One of them aims at labelling leatherand footwear products and is being developed under the ABNT Environmental Quality Eco-label.
The other relates to forestry produc t certification, th e ABNT/CERFLOR.
II. ENVIRONMENTAL CERTIFICATION FOR LEATHER AND FOOTWEAR
2. Since 1995 the Technical Committee for Environmental Certification of Leather and
Footwear Products (ABNT/CTC-03 -A) has been working on the establishment of criteria for the
concession of Eco-labelling ABNT-Qualidade Ambi ental (ABNT-Environmental Quality) for this
category of products.  Since then several technical meetings have taken place, with the participation of
representatives of industry, Government, research institutions and non-governmental organizations.
3. In 1996, twenty three environmental standard projects were developed, linking the production
process of each material used, the residues generated, the parameters to be measured and the ways of
minimizing environmental impacts.  The standard projects which were elaborated were developed by
the members of ABNT/CTC-03-A who reached the conclusion that the next step should be an analysisof the information collected, aiming at determining the relevant impact to which patterns of
environmental quality will be assessed.
4. When consensus is reached among the members of  the Committee in respect to the criteria for
certification contained in the proposal of Environmental Criteria for Certification of Leather and
Footwear Products, such criteria will be submitted to public consultation, according to the guidelinesof ISO 14024 – Labels and Environmental Declarations – Environmental Labelling Type I –
Principles and Proceedings ;  to the guidelines of Guide 59 of ISO/IEC – Code of Good Practice for
Standardization ;  and the “Code of Good Practice for Preparation, Adoption and Application of
Standards” of the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade.  This public consultation process
will ensure that parties interested in the progra mme of environmental certification of leather and
footwear products may present their comments.  The Committee will incorporate those comments
which add substance to the labelling programme, accord ing to their feasibility.  The fact that the
Committee is composed of representatives of all interested parties gives credibility to the process.
5. When the criteria, specific regulation and specific instructions are accepted by all interested
parties involved, a final proposal will be submitted to the ABNT Commission of Certification forapproval, and the process of certification will then be initiated.WT/CTE/W/108
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6. Continuing the process started in 1995, an ad hoc  group was formed in March 1998 to
conclude the work related to the establishment of environmental labelling criteria, for leather and
footwear products.  This group based it s work on the recommendations of ISO 14024 - Environmental
labels and declarations - Environmental labell ing type I - Guiding principles and procedures   and of
ISO 14040 - Environmental managem ent - Life cycle assessment - Principles and framework .  As a
result, a draft containing the criteria was elaborated and it is now being evaluated by the ABNT
Technical Committee for Certification of Leather and Footwear.  The composition of the Technical
Committee for the Environmental Certification of Leather and Footwear Products is in Annex A of
this document.
7. Criteria are being proposed to shoes which have their upper parts, lining, insole and outsole
made of leather.  These criteria are related to the stages of the product's life cycle.  Raw materials used
in footwear production are the responsibility of the manufacturer, who must take care to assess thesuppliers' performance criteria.  The criteria take into account the fitness to use and are related with
raw materials and wastes control, occupational health and safety, final disposal and package.
8. Since approved by the Committee, a final proposal will be submitted to public consultation
and presented in a workshop to the interested parties.  When the certification requirements and
procedures are accepted by the Committee, after hearing all interested parties, the final draft will besubmitted for approval by the ABNT’s Certification Commission.
III. THE BRAZILIAN FORESTRY CERTIFICATION PROGRAMME
9. The Brazilian Forestry Certification Programme - ABNT/CERFLOR - will help to ensure the
continuous presence of Brazilian forest products in the international markets;  domestically, it will
encourage the adoption of environmentally sound technologies and practices aimed at the sustainablemanagement of forests.
10. The Brazilian forestry sector, with the technical support of research institutions, has started to
develop a forest certification programme framework which is designed to verify and guarantee the
origin of the raw forestry material used in the indu stry.  This effort resulted in the CERFLOR - Forest
Certification Programme.
11. The development of this programme started at the beginning of 1991, when the Brazilian
Society of Forestry (SBS) presented a paper on forestry trends in Brazil to the 10
th World Forestry
Congress, held in Paris.  On that occasion, one of the proposals was the establishment of a national
certification programme as part of a long term strategy.
12. In 1993, the certification programme started to be structured with the establishment of
principles, criteria and indicators that should be adequate to the Brazilian reality.  CERFLOR was a
joint programme of professional associations and representative institutions of the environmental,scientific and business sectors.
13. In 1996, the Brazilian Society of Forestry signed a technical cooperation agreement with the
Forestry Certification Programme (ABNT).  Due to ABNT’s experience and tradition in
standardization and certification areas, ABNT is now responsible for the development,
implementation, and management of the pr ogramme (now known as the ABNT/CERFLOR
programme).
14. The ABNT Technical Committee for Certification of Forests (ABNT/CTC-05-A) was created
in March 1997, congregating representatives of NGOs, the Federal Government, producers and
research institutions.  The Composition of the Technical Committee on Forest/EnvironmentalWT/CTE/W/108
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Certification is in Annex B of this document.  This Technical Committee is now working on the
establishment of principles, criteria and indicators for the certification of planted forests.
15. The next two steps for the development of the programme will be to submit the project to
public consultation, as well as to carry out a workshop to present and discuss the programme with
interested parties.  It will also conduct a practical experiment, when the audits procedures and thechecklist will be tested.
16. When the certification requirements and procedures are accepted by the Committee, after
hearing comments from all interested parties, the final draft will be submitted for approval by the
ABNT’s Certification Commission.
17. The Technical Committee for Certification of Forests is developing a General Regulation for
the Certification of Forest Origin, by which global management of the ABNT/CERFLOR will take
place.  The whole Programme is being structured taking into consideration the ISO/FDIS 14020“Environmental Labels and Declarations – General Principles”.  Additionally, the Technical
Committee for Certification closely follows the lines set by the technical report prepared by
ISO/TC207/WG2 on forestry.  Thus, the ABNT/CERFLOR Certificate can be considered a
complement to a possible environmental management system certification based on ISO 14001, since
it takes into account environmental performance aspects.
18. The ABNT/CERFLOR Certification Programme is  based on the following five principles,
designed to cover both planted and native forests:
• Care of biodiversity;
• Sustainability of renewable forest resources and their rational use in the short and long term;
• Care of water, soil and air quality;
• Environmental, economic and social development of areas of forest related activities;  and
• Compliance with related legislation.
19. ABNT/CERFLOR’s five principles, with 18 criteria and respective indicators, take into
consideration the Brazilian environmental particularities and the different forest typologies occurringat the regional and local levels.
20. The ABNT/CERFLOR is a voluntary programme and aims at contributing to the awareness,
promotion and continuous adoption of an environmentally sound, socially-fair and economically
viable management, in order to enable and ensure the competitiveness of Brazilian forestry products.WT/CTE/W/108
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ANNEX A
COMPOSITION OF THE TECHNICAL COMMITTEE FOR THE ENVIRONMENTAL
CERTIFICATION OF LEATHER AND FOOTWEAR PRODUCTS
− Brazilian Association of Footwear Industry – ABICALÇADOS
− Brazilian Association of Footwear  Components Industry – ASSINTECAL
− Rio Grande do Sul Association of Leather Industry – AICSUL
− Brazilian Footwear and Related Products Exporters Association – ABAEX
− Brochier S/A Indústria de Calçados
− Calçados Azaléia S/A
− Paquetá Calçados Ltda.
− Centre of Leather Industries of Brazil – CICB
− Brazilian Committee of Leather – ABNT/CB-11
− Association for Environmental Protection of the State of Rio Grande do Sul – AGAPAN
− Technological Centre of Leather – SENAI/RS
− Technological Centre of Leather, Footwear and Related Products  – CTCCA
− School of Chemistry – Federal Univ ersity of Rio de Janeiro - UFRJ
− Institute of Technological Research – IPT
− Clube dos Diretores Lojistas de Novo Hamburgo – DEACON
− Research and Project Financing Agency – FINEP
− Henrique Roessler Foundation for the Environmental Protection– FEPAM/ABEMA/MMA
− Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources – IBAMA
− National Institute of Metrology, standardization and Industrial Quality – INMETRO
− Ministry of Science and Technology – MCT
− Consumer’s Defence State Mechanism– SISTECONWT/CTE/W/108
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ANNEX B
COMPOSITION OF THE TECHNICAL COMMITTEE ON
FOREST/ENVIRONMENTAL CERTIFICATION
− Brazilian Forestry Society (SBS)
− National Association of Pulp and Paper (ANFPC)
− CAF – Santa Bárbara Ltda.
− Brazilian Agency for Agricultural Research - EMBRAPA
− National Centre for Forest Research – EMBRAPA/CNPF
− Institute of Technological Research of the State of São Paulo – IPT
− National Research Institute for the Amazon  – INPA
− World Wildlife Fund – WWF
− SOS Mata Atlântica
− Ministry of Environment, Water Resources and the Legal Amazon
− Fundação de Ensino, Tecnologia e Pesquisa – FETEP
− Ministry of Science and Technology – MCT
− Ministry of Justice – Secretary of Economic Defence
− ABNT/CB 29 – Pulp and Paper
− ABNT/CB 31 – Timber
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