FSC is terminating the Trademark License Agreement (TLA) of the eight certificate holders belonging to the Vinda group through a mutually agreed termination agreement. Hence, the Vinda group can no longer be associated with FSC because it was recently acquired by the Royal Golden Eagle (RGE) group. FSC disassociated from the RGE group, which includes APRIL, in August 2013. Source: Timberbiz
According to the mutual termination agreement:
- The TLAs of all the Vinda certificate holders will be terminated effective 30 September 2024. Therefore, after the termination becomes effective, these companies can no longer produce products with FSC claims, and they cannot claim that they are FSC-certified.
- The liquidation period of all FSC-labelled products produced up to and including 30 September 2024 may be sold with an FSC label until 31 December 2024. This means that Vinda can no longer sell products with FSC claims after this date.
Vinda’s customers who bought products produced by Vinda as FSC-certified before the end of the liquidation period will be able to claim that they are FSC-certified without any time restrictions.
RGE’s acquisition of the Vinda group by RGE makes them a part of this disassociated corporate group. According to FSC’s Policy for Association, when a valid certificate holder is acquired by a disassociated corporate group, FSC terminates the company’s TLA and the certification body terminates their FSC certificate.
The Policy for Association stipulates that when FSC disassociates from a corporate group due to Policy for Association violations, all entities belonging to that group are barred from entering the FSC system through certification as long as the disassociation is valid.
Read more about the implications of disassociation, especially when a certificate holder is acquired by a disassociated corporate group in this set of FAQs.
Vinda is a hygiene products company in Asia headquartered in China. Therefore, the termination of their FSC certificates will have implications that affect its suppliers and customers. The terminated Vinda certificate holders are:
License – Organization Name
- FSC-C119971 – Vinda Paper (China) Co., Ltd.
- FSC-C119971 – Vinda Paper (China) Co., Ltd. Guangdong Branch
- FSC-C119971 – Vinda Paper (China) Co., Ltd. Jiangmen Branch
- FSC-C119971 – Vinda Paper (China) Co., Ltd. Xinhui Branch
- FSC-C161508 – Vinda Trading Co., Ltd.
- FSC-C133911 – Vinda Malaysia Sdn. Bhd.
- FSC-C133911 – Vinda Marketing (M) Sdn. Bhd.
- FSC-C106732 – Vinda Household Paper (China) Limited
- FSC-C117913 – Vinda Paper Industrial (H.K.) Co., Limited
- FSC-C158078 – Vinda Personal Care (Guangdong) Company Limited
- FSC-C125756 – Vinda Paper (Zhejiang) Co., Ltd.
- FSC-C136725 – Forton Enterprises Limited
Royal Golden Eagle (RGE), the corporation that owns APRIL, announced the acquisition of Vinda Group on 22 March 2024.
FSC disassociated from the APRIL group in August 2013, hence, currently no entity of that corporate group is eligible for association with FSC.
Since October 2023, FSC has been facilitating APRIL’s remedy process. After successfully completing the remedy process, all companies belonging to the APRIL/RGE group, including those from the Vinda Group, may become eligible for association and certification. The completion of a remedy process may take several years.
