Frequently Asked Questions

How does Danzer Group meet its social, ecological and business responsibilities as an international company?

Since we are aware of our responsibilities, our business dealings around the world are founded on high ethical and legal standards. These apply to sustainability, environmental protection, the society and social responsibility, as well as our relations with our business partners.

What does sustainable development mean to Danzer Group?

For Danzer Group, sustainable development means acting in a manner that is at once commercially successful, as well as socially and ecologically responsible. Wood is one of the most important renewable resources, and demand for it is growing all over the world. Consequently, treating wood with a sense of responsibility and applying sustainable principles of forest management are becoming ever more important. Sustainably ensuring high-quality supplies of wood is the most important concern of Danzer Group for the future.

What projects in the field of sustainable forest management has Danzer Group initiated?

For years already, Danzer Group has been running its own reforestation project with high-quality types of wood in northern Argentina, and has begun to manage forests of its own in North America on sustainable principles. Thus the foundation is being created for covering a growing portion of our wood requirement from our own forests.

How is Danzer Group helping the cause of sustainable forest management in Africa?

In many countries of West and Central Africa, the wood industry is one of the most important resources for sustainable economic development. In its forest concessions in the Congo Basin, Danzer Group not only pursues sustainable forest management, but also supports the development of an efficient domestic wood industry and wood-processing operations which it has established in these areas, as well as providing training and education for skilled workers in the locality. Danzer Group is one of the very important investors in the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
This helps combat poverty, since the jobs thus created give the local population a sustainable means of livelihood.

How important is environmental protection for Danzer Group?

Environmental protection is the focal point of our sustainability management. In 1994, Danzer Group started to introduce an environmental management system (EMS) in accordance with the draft of international standard ISO 14001 that was finally published in 1996. The ISO 14001:2004 standard is recognized both by governments as well as a number of industrial sectors. Thus there are now internally binding specifications for all companies with comprehensive reporting and controlling obligations, whose observance will be verified by external experts. In the environmental and safety management systems at Danzer, the obligatory principles for sustainable management of tropical forests are also defined.

How important is forest certification for Danzer Group?

From the point of view of Danzer Group, ISO 14001:2004, the basis of the environmental and safety management system (ESMS), is operationally necessary to address environmental concerns responsibly, sustainably and effectively at all levels of hierarchy in our company and the Group, and in all areas of the value added chain, from forest management to the sale of our wood products.

An ISO 14001:2004 certificate represents an ongoing improvement process and confirms that the ESMS meets the requirements of ISO 14001:2004. Apart from this verification of processes, the certificate also confirms that the relevant local legislation and the measures we set for ourselves in the area of the environment (including worker safety) are adhered to and carried out.

The widely-known forest certificates, such as FSC, PEFC, Koerhout , are product certificates which verify that the certified wood products come from a forestry operation managed according to the "criteria and indicators" (PCI's) of the various certifiers, all of which differ from each other in certain details. In this context, it must also be noted that, apart from the certification of the forestry operation, a certification of the chain of custody, that is, the path from the forest to the consumer, is also necessary.
As a rule, the internationally applicable forest certificates such as FSC and the Pan-African Certificate (PAFC) acknowledged by PEFC have general PCI's which are specified at the country level. A forest certification always calls for a forest management plan approved by the respective government. Up to now, only a very few of the forest concessions in the Congo Basin have been certified according to Koerhout . FSC and PAFC have begun their inspections in some forest concessions.

As far as forest management in the Congo Basin is concerned, the Commission des Forêts d'Afrique Centrale (COMIFAC) has established PCI's for sustainable management of the forests in the Congo Basin based on a multilateral agreement between the states of Central Africa, the European Union and the U.S., the OAB (Organisation Afriquaine de Bois)/ITTO (International Timber Trade Organization).

These PCI's are the foundation for developing our concessions in both Congos . Now that the IFO forest management plan is finished, these PCI's have also been largely implemented. SIFORCO , which was cut off from its forest concessions from 1998 to 2002 owing to the many years of civil war in the Congo (Kinshasa), intends to begin working on an appropriate forest management plan in 2006.

As far as we know, PAFC in Gabon has finished setting local PCI's based on the general OAB/ITTO PCI's , so that PAFC can be used there. Now the same process is also supposed to be carried out in the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville). As far as FSC is concerned, we do not know whether local study groups, in Cameroon, for instance, and the Republic of Congo, have begun or finished their work. Nor do we know to what extent the FSC requirements would go beyond OAB/ITTO .

Owing to the international importance of the Congo Basin, the second-largest tropical forest on Earth, as well as our principle of cultivating transparency, we intend to obtain certification for IFO as early as 2006, and for SIFORCO once the work on the forest management plan is completed, presumably in 2008-09. The choice of the certification system will depend on local availability and the extent to which this system follows the principles of the COMIFAC , in order to ensure that the local governments, which are members of COMIFAC , will be fully in agreement with this certification.

Our environmental and safety management system is designed to conform to the international ISO 14001:2004 standard. Our guidelines within our ESMS for procuring African wood have set standards for sustainable development and purchasing of African wood from legal sources. Hence our environmental management goes far beyond other certifications, since will cover all relevant areas, from procuring raw materials to production up to shipping the final products. Forest certifications based on the ISO 14001:2004 standard are the most common certification systems in the world. Forest certifications must be developed on the basis of the conditions prevailing in the respective countries and regions.

How does Danzer Group guarantee its customers that it does not procure illegal wood?

Illegal felling of trees, especially in Southeast Asia, but also in Africa, South America and Russia, is destroying important ecosystems. Furthermore, the large quantities of illegally traded wood are keeping the price of wood on the world market, especially hardwood, so low that it is often impossible to sell enough wood from sustainable forestry operations to cover costs.

This is why we find it important to be sure that the wood and wood products we deal in come from legal, sustainable forestry operations.

To this end, Danzer Group has introduced guidelines for the procurement of African round timber, sawn timber and veneers as part of its ISO 14001:2004 based environmental and safety management system. The ESMS will be audited by a 3 rd party to verify that we do what we say.

How does Danzer Group make sure that the guidelines are adhered to?

Danzer Group has recently created the function of an "Environmental Coordinator for Trade and Production in Africa", who checks and documents supplies to ensure that they come from legal, sustainable forestry operations. In addition, an independent auditing company verifies each year that these guidelines are being observed. Thus Danzer actively supports the plan of action of the European Union, " FLEGT Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade" aimed at preventing illegally cut round timber from being imported.

How does Danzer respond to the accusations of Greenpeace?

In April 2007, Greenpeace published a report entitled "Carving up the Congo", which is critical of logging in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In its Report Greenpeace presented, among other things, accusations against SIFORCO (a Danzer Group subsidiary in the DRC). The accusations of Greenpeace in no way correspond with the facts and therefore cannot be accepted by Danzer Group. We hereby publish a detailed response to the Greenpeace accusations.

Response as PDF (134 KB)

In June 2004, Greenpeace International published a so called "Forest Crime File" that included a number of accusations against the Danzer Group and its business in Africa. Greenpeace published a revised version of the report in November 2004.

The Danzer Group conducts an open and objective dialog with the public, absent of pre-discussion, condemnation, and unjustified attacks on the reputations of others. That is why the Group has on various occasions informed Greenpeace in personal discussions and official letters that the accusations made in the "Forest Crime File" are incorrect. In keeping with our aim to ensure comprehensive transparency we hereby publish the "Forest Crime File" accusations and make detailed statements on each criticism leveled by Greenpeace.

Complete text as PDF (149 KB)

Did Interholco have dealings in Liberia with dubious companies involved in the arms trade?

All our business actions are based on high ethical and legal standards and we expect our suppliers to maintain these standards. In the case of the Liberian company OTC and its manager Gus Kouwenhoven, who has been personally accused of entertaining connections to arm traffickers, we have to concede that our systematic due diligence failed. As soon as the business management of Danzer Group got aware of this business relation was stopped immediately. We have learned from this experience and developed a system, according to which we will act in the future. This system will also contain procedures concerning political and criminal involvement and ensures that something like this will not happen again.

Especially in Africa, the prevailing political situation can make it very difficult for a company on its own to judge and evaluate possible criminal involvements among its supplier companies. As long as conclusive evidence and information are unavailable, we abide by the constitutional principle of presuming innocence until guilt has bee proven.
We are not one of those who rush to judgment - particularly in view of our social responsibility toward the local workers and their families. Danzer's supplier companies have ascertainably created a large number of jobs in Liberia and thus provided many families with a livelihood. External estimations count up to 3400 jobs. The UN has always held this fact in high esteem in its analyses of the situation in Liberia.
In view of the sensitive political developments in Africa, we have always kept and are still keeping in close touch with the organizations of the United Nations.

Up to 2003, Interholco had business dealings with various companies in Liberia, including OTC. When the UN export prohibition for Liberia took effect in July 2003, Interholco immediately broke off all business contacts to this country.
In September 2004, Danzer Group also decided to cancel without delay a business contact with Mr. Kouwenhoven related to the Republic of Congo which Interholco had made shortly before.

Did Interholco engage in ethically questionable business practices (for example, bribery or manipulation of documents) in Africa or other regions?

Interholco and its employees have always followed and still do follow the laws prevailing here as well as in the respective country in which they do business. The responsible employees of Interholco and Danzer Group committed no criminal offenses.

The District Attorney’s Office in the Swiss canton Zug has closed an investigation against the employees of Danzer Group subsidiary Interholco AG. Authorities had been investigating the suspected forgery of documents.

Greenpeace Switzerland suspected Interholco AG of actively offering bribes in conjunction with the trade of hardwood and the management of forest concessions in Africa. Greenpeace filed a complaint of an offense at the Swiss Federal Attorney’s Office in Bern on June 14, 2004 against the responsible employees of Interholco AG for the bribery of foreign government officials (Art. 322septies Penal Code) and forgery of documents (Art. 251 Penal Code).

Interholco AG, a wood trading company headquartered in Baar, is a subsidiary of the internationally active Danzer Group. A thorough investigation by the Swiss Federal Attorney’s Office into the criminal charges brought against Interholco AG and other responsible employees produced no indication of bribery on the part of Interholco AG or Danzer AG.

The Swiss Federal Attorney’s Office dropped all charges against all parties involved in the investigation surrounding the bribery of foreign government officials on December 21, 2004.

The District Attorney’s Office in Zug subsequently continued the investigation into the suspected forgery of documents. When the suspected criminal activity failed to be confirmed, the District Attorney’s Office ended the criminal investigation against all parties involved on August 22, 2006.

An order of discontinuance issued by the Swiss Federal Attorney’s Office and the Zug District Attorney’s Office became final. Proceedings against Interholco AG and Danzer AG as well as all responsible employees are definitively closed.

It has been confirmed that neither Interholco AG nor Danzer AG nor any responsible employees committed any criminal offenses.

In underdeveloped countries such as those on the African continent, the specific peculiarities of each locality must be taken into consideration, and these are often not comparable to the standards of law and order prevailing in Western countries. They are subject to the sovereignty and regulations of governing bodies in the respective country, which must be respect both in terms of culture and legislation. Where there is no functioning tax collection system for services rendered by official agencies within the scope of business transactions, as in the Congo Basin, various supervisory authorities often demand that companies pay for the accommodations and expenses of official employees. This type of remuneration for official services rendered has been acknowledged as being legal by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in its Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions.

What action has Danzer Group taken against corruption?

Danzer is against corruption and bribery, and does not tolerate any actions in which business is done by illicit means. That is why the companies of Danzer Group must follow behavioral guidelines which ensure that all business transactions are free of corruption and bribery. This "Code of Conduct: Countering Bribery and Related Matters" adheres closely to the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions, the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption adopted by the Organization of American States, and the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption.

How does Danzer Group guarantee that its behavioral guidelines are adhered to?

Adherence to the anti-corruption guidelines in Danzer Group is constantly monitored by an internal control system. In addition, we have our internal compliance guidelines examined by independent auditors, such as the Swiss accrediting agency Société Générale de Surveillance (SGS ).