While PEFC Portugal is the PEFC-recognized National Governing Body for Portugal, and responsible for governing and managing the system, it is ICNF as the Standardizing Body that is responsible for managing the process of standards development. This includes the establishment of a standard setting working group/committee of balanced stakeholders that will develop the forest management standard.
The standards revision is a required element of the PEFC endorsement, which obliges national forest management standards to be revised regularly to ensure that they incorporate international requirements, latest knowledge and best practices, and new market and stakeholder requirements. By limiting the endorsement of national systems to a maximum of five years, PEFC ensures that all systems undertake the revision process.
PEFC is the world's largest forest certification system.