The Australian Forestry Standard (AS 4708:2013) and the associated Chain of Custody Standard (AS 4707:2014) 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: 1) 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; 2) 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; 3) 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.