SFI and PEFC Certified Hardwood Lumber: Claims, Labels and How They Compare with FSC

SFI and PEFC are the two other chain of custody schemes a hardwood buyer meets next to FSC. They work the same way at the big-picture level: a certified company tracks wood from certified or controlled sources through its yard and kiln, and states a claim on the invoice. They differ in claim wording, labels and where you check the certificate. The table sets the three side by side. Details follow for SFI and PEFC, and our page on FSC certified hardwood lumber covers FSC.

Item	SFI	PEFC	FSC
Standard for the lumber seller	SFI 2022 Chain-of-Custody Standard (Section 4)	PEFC ST 2002:2020	FSC-STD-40-004
Typical invoice claim	SFI X% Certified Forest Content, SFI 100% Certified Forest Content, SFI Certified Sourcing and others	x% PEFC certified, PEFC controlled sources	FSC 100%, FSC Mix, FSC Controlled Wood
Seller’s certificate number on the document	Part of the input records the standard asks a buyer to keep, as applicable	Required on delivery documents	Required
Where to check	SFI certification database (sfidatabase.org)	PEFC Find Certified	FSC certificate database (info.fsc.org)
Cross-recognition	SFI 2022 CoC is PEFC endorsed since May 2022	Receives claims from SFI certified organizations	Separate scheme

This page is general information as of October 2026. Standards and claim wording change. Confirm the current text with the scheme or the certification body.

SFI chain of custody: what the claim is built from

The SFI 2022 Chain-of-Custody Standard is an accounting system that tracks forest fiber content from raw material to end product. It applies to any organization that sources, processes, manufactures, handles, trades, converts or prints forest-based products. A certified company can pick one of three methods: physical separation, the percentage method or the credit method for mixed inputs.

On the invoice, the standard lists the official claims. They include SFI X% Certified Forest Content, SFI 100% from a Certified Forest, SFI 100% Certified Forest Content, SFI at Least X% Certified Forest Content, SFI X% Certified Sourcing or SFI Certified Sourcing and the recycled-content variants. Percentages of any combination are permitted. At the point of sale, the seller must give the next company written information confirming its certification status and an official SFI claim, on an invoice, bill of lading or similar document.

Two details matter to a buyer:

• The 70% threshold. A product can carry the SFI Chain-of-Custody label only if it reaches at least 70% certified forest content or recycled material under the percentage method. Below that, the actual percentage is disclosed.
• Certified Sourcing is a different thing. SFI says the Certified Sourcing label covers noncontroversial raw material sources, logger training, recycled content, certified forests and small family forest owners, and makes no claims about certified content. A line that says “SFI Certified Sourcing” is a sourcing statement, not a certified forest content claim.

SFI’s page on labels lists four on-product labels: Chain of Custody, Recycled Content, a label recognizing global standards such as PEFC (intended for use in the US and Canada, with a separate application) and Certified Sourcing. Only organizations with a valid SFI certificate from an accredited certification body may apply for them, and use requires authorization from SFI.

PEFC chain of custody: what the claim is built from

PEFC ST 2002:2020 sets the requirements for the same kind of system. It specifies physical separation, percentage and credit methods. Its claim vocabulary is short: “x% PEFC certified” and “PEFC controlled sources”. The standard also allows the wording “100% PEFC Origin” for certified material that was never mixed with controlled sources material.

The standard asks that delivery documents for material with a claim show:

• the name of the customer receiving the PEFC claim
• the PEFC claim for each claimed product
• the certificate number of the seller’s PEFC certificate, a unique numerical or alphanumeric identifier

A buyer who receives lumber with a PEFC claim should check that all three are on the invoice or delivery note. Under the standard, the certified company must verify its own suppliers on the PEFC website. You can do the same check in the other direction.

Two PEFC rules are useful when sellers mix wood. If inputs with different certified content go into one product group under physical separation, the output claim uses the lowest certified content of the inputs. If PEFC certified and PEFC controlled sources material go into the same product group, the output is claimed as PEFC controlled sources. The credit method must be applied for a single claim: a yard that receives wood with both a PEFC claim and a claim from another scheme has to either use a combined credit or pick one claim for its credits.

How SFI and PEFC relate

PEFC announced in May 2022 that the SFI 2022 Chain-of-Custody Standard passed its assessment and is PEFC endorsed. Organizations certified to it can use the PEFC on-product label and make PEFC claims, and PEFC certified organizations can receive PEFC claims from SFI certified organizations. SFI states that the endorsement applies from 17 May 2022. This is a recognition of the standard, not a merger: the invoice must still carry the claim the seller is entitled to make, and the certificate to check is the one that matches the claim.

Which buyers ask for which

Do not assume. Ask the end customer which scheme and which claim wording their program accepts, and write the answer on the RFQ. A buyer who says “certified” without naming the scheme leaves the mill to choose, and a mill certified to one scheme cannot supply another scheme’s claim.

Customer says	Ask the customer	Ask the mill
“FSC”	Which claim: 100%, Mix, Controlled Wood	FSC certificate code and product scope
“SFI”	Chain of custody claim or Certified Sourcing	SFI certificate number and the exact invoice claim
“PEFC”	Which claim: x% PEFC certified or controlled sources	PEFC certificate number and claim
“Any recognized scheme”	Which ones are accepted	Which scheme the mill holds and for which products

How to check a certificate

1. Ask the mill for the scheme, the certificate number and the claim on the invoice.
2. Search the number in the scheme’s database: SFI certification database (sfidatabase.org) for SFI, PEFC Find Certified for PEFC. The PEFC database can show expired, terminated or withdrawn certificates, so read the status.
3. Match the company name, the status and the product scope to the supplier and the product.
4. Match the claim on the invoice to what the standard allows.
5. Keep the record and the date you checked, and repeat on later orders.

SFI certificates are issued after an audit by a certification body accredited by ANAB or the Standards Council of Canada. The SFI audit rules call for annual surveillance audits and recertification every five years. Ask the certification body for the current rules.

What these certificates do not prove

• Legal harvest and import duties. None of them replaces the Lacey Act declaration, CITES permits or EU due diligence. See Lacey Act declaration (PPQ 505) and CITES permits for timber.
• Grade or moisture. A grade report says that, not a chain of custody certificate. See NHLA inspection reports.
• Species. The scheme tracks wood claims, not botanical identity. Keep the botanical name on the paper.

For the EU side, our guide to the EU deforestation regulation for hardwood lumber explains why a certificate is evidence and not a substitute for the importer’s own due diligence.

What a mill can say about itself

Hardwood Vendor does not hold or issue any SFI, PEFC or FSC certificate and does not certify mills. Ask the mill for its original certificate and check it in the scheme’s database yourself.

What to write on the RFQ

• The scheme: SFI, PEFC or FSC, or the list of accepted schemes.
• The claim wording needed: for example “x% PEFC certified, minimum 70%” or “SFI 100% Certified Forest Content”.
• The seller’s certificate number on the quote and on every invoice.
• A copy of the certificate before the order is confirmed.
• A clause that lets you reject lumber that arrives without the claim on the invoice.

Send your lumber RFQ with the scheme and the claim, and we pass it to up to 3 mills or yards that say they can supply it.

RFQ line: Red oak (Quercus rubra group), No.1 Common, 4/4 rough, KD 6-8%, PEFC claim "x% PEFC certified" with minimum 70% and seller certificate number on each invoice, certificate copy before order.