The Rainforest Alliance on Wednesday issued a statement announcing that Gibson Guitar CEO Henry Juszkiewicz has taken a leave of absence from its board. The move comes a day after federal agents raided Gibson offices in Nashville related to a probe into the company's alleged use of endangered wood species.
The alliance, which issues a chain-of-custody certification for manufacturers using standards developed by the Forest Stewardship Council, emphasized that the rosewood under investigation is not a part of its program.
"The FSC Chain-of-Custody audit conducted in 2008 verified that Gibson has purchased hard maple, mahogany and muira piranga from FSC-certified forests. These woods are used in the manufacturing of the company's Les Paul SmartWood and Raw Power guitars, which are sold as FSC-Pure with a certificate of authenticity from Gibson.
"Under the current scope of their certificate, they also have the ability to purchase swamp ash and poplar from FSC-certified suppliers. No other species are authorized to be sold with a FSC-certified claim under Gibson's Chain-of-Custody certificate. The certificate does not cover wood from Madagascar," the statement says.
Gibson's next audit was set for Nov. 23, but the Alliance – which has worked with the company for more than a decade – said that process has been postponed until December.
Music industry |
Rainforest Alliance |
Henry Juszkiewicz |
Law enforcement |
Davidson County |
Nashville |
Madagascar |
Gibson Guitar Corp. |
Manufacturing |
Environment |
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