AssiDomän Joins the FSC

12/19/1996 6:00 AM EST

AssiDomän is the first major forest products company in the world to become a
member of the FSC - the Forest Stewardship Council. The FSC is an independent
international organisation whose purpose is to encourage environmentally
adapted, socially responsible and financially robust management of the world's
forests. FSC members are environmental organisations, including the WWF and
the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, buyers such as IKEA, forest
managers, community organisations, and certification companies from 25
countries.

The FSC drafts principles and criteria at international and national levels.
Based on these criteria, independent organisations can then certify forest
managers. In Sweden, a working group is currently drafting a national standard
for forest management. Certification will depend on matters related to
reforestation, biodiversity, conservation of virgin forests and other areas of
high natural value, historical value, etc.

"The fact that AssiDomän is the first really large forest company in the world
to join the FSC represents an historical breakthrough. AssiDomän demonstrates,
not only in its forests, but also through its certification-related
activities, that it really believes sustainable forest management can be
achieved in co-operation with environmental organisations, companies, trade
unions and indigenous populations. The WWF can only congratulate AssiDomän for
acting in a brave and far-sighted manner. We hope that this will encourage
many others in the forest sector," says Per Rosenberg, responsible for
European forest issues at WWF International.

Lennart Ahlgren, AssiDomän's President and CEO, who on many previous occasions
has emphasised the importance of environmental work in the forest industry,
has the following comments on the company's FSC membership:

"AssiDomän has been working with forest-related environmental issues for a
long time. It therefore comes naturally to us through our membership of the
FSC to support constructive co-operation with the environmental movement and
thereby take a further step towards independent environmental certification of
our forest management. Certification which is demanded and highly valued by
our customers in Europe."


Olof Johansson, an ecologist at AssiDomän Skog & Trä and the company's
representative on the FSC, says that the Swedish FSC working group will
continue as planned, which may result in a complete proposal for nationally
adjusted criteria being tabled next spring. If so, the first genuine
certification work in Sweden can start in the autumn.

AssiDomän AB
Corporate Communications
19 December 1996

For further information, please contact:
Olof Johansson, Ecologist, AssiDomän Skog & Trä, tel +46 70 586 22 58
Per Rosenberg, WWF International, tel +41 223 649 229
Lotta Möller, PR/Ecology, AssiDomän, tel +46 70 575 35 05
Johan Sillerström, PR/Ecology, AssiDomän, tel +46 10 218 65 57