CHINA (News release) -- The 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.

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.

Vinda is a leading hygiene products company in Asia headquartered in China.