The decision means all of Danzer’s FSC forest management and chain-of-custody certificates will be revoked for a minimum of one year.

The FSC board of directors decided on the "disassociation", its most severe punishment, following research by an independent Complaints Panel which concluded that former Danzer subsidiary Siforco has been involved in "unacceptable activities" in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 2011 (while it was still part of Danzer).

The disassociation has resulted from a complaint made by Greenpeace that Siforco was involved in the violation of human rights of forest communities in Yaliskia, DRC.

Greenpeace alleged that Siforco was linked to violent acts by local authorities against the company’s logging operations.