When Transnational Standards Hit the Ground: Domestic Regulations, Compliance Assessment and Forest Certification in Russia

Abstract

The article examines how the interplay between domestic regulations and third-party compliance assessment shapes the effects of transnational non-state environmental certification and labelling, which has become an important part of the global environmental and natural resource governance. Based on an extensive qualitative case study of forest certification by the Forest Stewardship Council in Russia, the article argues, first, that Russia's extensive domestic regulations have restricted the impact of forest certification on forest companies because of significant contradictions between national forest law and global certification standards and the poorly implemented ongoing reform of the national forest governance. Second, the article shows that in this challenging environment, the ability of third-party certifiers to enforce and control the implementation of certification standards is critical, but has been increasingly undermined by the emerging price competition between certifiers, the resulting lack of resources for proper control and the diminishing capacity of environmental stakeholders to monitor certifiers effectively.

Key Words:

• Forest certification
• environmental standards
• Forest Stewardship Council
• Russia
• governance

Acknowledgements

I thank S. Quack and C. McDermott for their comments on earlier drafts, as well as the editors and anonymous reviewers for their constructive critique.

Funding

This work was supported by the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies and the Technische Universität München.

Notes

1 I borrow this term from McDermott et al. (2010, p. 213).

2 Three certification bodies dominate the market: NEPCon (partner of the Rainforest Alliance's SmartWood) issued 38 out of 75 certificates, or 51%; the GFA issued 11 certificates, or 15% and OOO Lesnaya Sertifikatsiya issued 21 certificates, or 28%. Bureau Veritas Certification, Soil Association and SGS issued two, two and three certificates, respectively (calculations based on the data from FSC, 2012).