FSC sets the standards for forest management and chain of custody certification and defines the procedures that certification bodies should follow in their certification assessments. To ensure credibility and transparency, FSC does not issue certificates itself. Instead, this role is held by independent certification bodies who carry out the forest management, ecosystem services, ecosystem services, and chain of custody assessments that lead to FSC certification. 

Certification bodies operating in India

The following issue forest management and ecosystem services certificates:

• Control Union
• Preferred by Nature (PbN)
• SCS

The following issue chain of custody certificates:

• Bureau Veritas
• Control Union
• Cotecna
• GCL International Ltd
• Preferred by Nature (PbN)
• RINA India
• Russian Register
• SCS
• Soil Association
• SGS
• TUV SUD South Asia

Assurance Services International (ASI)

FSC works with a global assurance partner: Assurance Services International (ASI) whose mission is to assure the credibility of voluntary sustainability standards. ASI oversees the certification activities of certification bodies to make sure that the forest stewardship standards are implemented correctly on the ground. 

Many FSC-accredited certification bodies offer certification to FSC standards worldwide. For a global list of certification bodies, search ASI's 'Find a Certification Assessment Body' (select FSC in the program filter).