AAF Calculator

An Overview of FSC’s AAF Policy

Every year, all accredited chain-of-custody certification bodies (CB) are charged an annual administration fee (AAF) by the FSC. The majority of FSC’s income comes from the AAF and is used to fund FSC’s activities.

On July 1, 2022, how your AAF is calculated changed. There is no longer a fixed fee charged depending on the turnover category into which a certificate holder falls. The new AAF is now calculated based on a certificate holder’s actual forest-products turnover using a sliding scale.

Check out FSC’s updated AAF policy (FSC-POL-20-005) to learn more about how the new AAF is calculated.

While this change is good overall because it will make the AAF more equitable, the way your AAF is calculated is now more complex. Fortunately, we’ve developed a custom calculator tool to help make verifying your new AAF a breeze.

The American Green AAF Calculator

Our AAF calculator was custom built in-house by AGC using our expertise and knowledge of FSC policy and standards—and it’s exactly what you need to easily verify fees associated with FSC’s new AAF Policy.

How it works

1. Gather your annual Processors and Traders numbers*:
   • Total # of Processor sites
   • Total turnover from those Processor sites
   • Total # of Trader sites
   • Total turnover from those Trader sites
2. Fill in the Processors and Traders columns in the AAF calculator.
3. Your new AAF is automatically calculated for you.
4. Check the total against the amount invoiced to you by your CB.

That’s it! So gather up your numbers and give our AAF calculator a spin.

Important disclaimer

The American Green AAF Calculator helps you determine your expected fees under the new (in 2022) FSC AAF Policy. We strive for perfection, but American Green cannot guarantee or be held responsible for any errors or omissions in this calculator.

If you have any questions or come across an error while using our calculator, contact the AGC team.

*Definitions of “Processors” and “Traders,” per FSC®

Processing Enterprise/Processor: A Processing Entity or Processor is a person or legal entity that buys, takes legal possession of and sells wood and/or non-timber forest products after conducting some transformation of these products, either directly or through outsourcing. The transformation of products could include manufacture and/or changing the composition (e.g. mixing or adding forest-based materials to the product) and/or changing the physical integrity (e.g. re-packaging, re-labelling). For the purposes of this Policy, an individual enterprise that is conducting processing activities or processing and trading activities is treated as Processing Enterprise/Processor. Multi-site CHs conducting both processing and trading activities are treated as Processors.

Trader: A Trader is a person or legal entity that buys and sells wood and/or non-timber forest products and who takes legal possession of the goods. Traders do not conduct any transformation of these products, either directly or through outsourcing. (Source: FSC-STD-40-004 V3-1). For clarification, Trader can be a single or multi-site CH. For the purposes of this Policy, an individual enterprise that is conducting both processing and trading activities is treated as Processing Enterprise/Processor. Multi-site CHs conducting both processing and trading activities are treated as Processors. NOTE: Installation of finished products, kiln drying of wood, the filling of packaging and cutting into size are not considered product transformation.

Calculate Your AAF