AS 4708 & AS 4707
The Australian Standards for Sustainable Forest Management (AS 4708) and Chain of Custody for Forest Products (AS 4707) were developed in accordance with Standards Australia procedures and have been accepted as Australian Standards®.
The Standards Australia standards development process is clear and rigorously defined and based on three internationally recognised principles:
Openness and transparency of process
Transparency is critical in the preparation of standards. Transparency means that every act must follow a well-established procedure; that the procedure is equitable to all parties; and that each step in the standardisation process is open and available for scrutiny.
Consensus
Consensus in standardisation is the process through which a technical committee, consisting of many different and sometimes opposed interests, arrives at a general agreement on the content and requirements of a standard. This produces a standard which best matches the needs and values of our society as a whole, and due to representation of a range of parties, broad community acceptance is assured.
Balance
The membership of a Standards Australia committee is formally balanced as part of the constitution of the committee to represent the broadest possible spectrum of stakeholder interests.
For more information on standards development see the Standards Australia website at www.standards.org.au.