By Mark Swanton
When KE-ZU engaged Robert King of Prime Corporation (Aust) to assist with our re-certification audit after more than two years, King quickly understood why I initially partnered with axona AICHI in 2008 – inspired by the desire to introduce truly sustainable, high performance furniture to the Australian corporate, conference and education markets.
AICHI president Michihiko Shimamoto’s commitment to the environment is not just in product design but in its daily operations, supported by Japanese law and an industrial culture that prioritises low-impact manufacturing.
Japanese manufacturers operate sustainably by default – not just for marketing, but because it’s the legal and cultural standard.
However, in applying for GECA certification (Good Environmental Choice Australia) and its auditing bodies like BV, King encountered unexpected hurdles. He states, “While AICHI met or exceeded every environmental requirement under Japanese law – and could demonstrate that – the absence of specific Australian-style documentation became a barrier.”
In Japan, such documentation is often unnecessary; adherence to government regulation is assumed, enforced and universal. But GECA’s system wasn’t set up to recognise that kind of compliance.
It required paperwork that simply didn’t exist in the Japanese model. Our GECA journey through BV took us three years: the scramble to dig up compliance certificates that Japanese law already mandates. As an example, we had to produce forklift operation documentation, translated from Japanese into English, and this was deemed not up to standard compared to Australian Law.
The pain points were enormous: extra travel, translation costs and delays that ate into project budgets. What should have taken three months took three years; what should have cost us $10,000 ballooned to $50,000.
This isn’t an issue of non-compliance. It’s an issue of mismatched systems, and it begs the question: Are we really assessing sustainability, or just insisting on familiar formats?
Andreu World: Global leaders, local limitations
The challenge isn’t unique to Japanese manufacturers. Consider Andreu World, one of the most environmentally progressive furniture companies in the world. Based in Spain, they were the first in their industry to achieve B Corporation certification – a globally respected designation that requires meeting exceptionally high standards in sustainability, governance and social responsibility.
Andreu World also holds a long list of environmental credentials, including FSC, PEFC, ISO 14001, Cradle to Cradle, and carbon neutrality across its entire product range. In most international markets, these accolades speak for themselves. But in Australia, under GECA’s current framework, they’re not enough.
Again, I deferred to the expertise of Prime Corporation (Aust) to facilitate this perceived anomaly. Despite this extensive internationally recognised certification portfolio, GECA requires a physical audit of the manufacturer’s facilities – in this case, a visit to Spain to audit the audited – before any re-certification can be approved.
While diligence is important, this raises the question: At what point does due diligence become unnecessary duplication? And how many world class manufacturers are being quietly deterred from entering the Australian market because of it?
Yet with all the Andreu World credentials – many of which exceed Australian standards – they were deemed insufficient by GECA without a physical audit in Spain. Is this due diligence, or an outdated system straining under its own bureaucracy?
As we strive to bring the world’s most sustainable products into Australian facilities, we need to ask: Is it time to modernise our approach to certification? There is a desperate need for international harmonisation of standards and an ability to recognise reputable international certifications and government standards.
Rather than reinventing the wheel, we should be aligning with globally accepted benchmarks, particularly when they come from nations with stronger environmental records than our own.
I suggest that we’re stifling innovation and access to world-class products. At KE-ZU, we’re committed to sourcing products that meet the highest global standards in sustainability and design. But we also believe Australia can lead not by tightening red tape, but by embracing a smarter, more cooperative model of certification that rewards true environmental performance, wherever it originates.
Let’s evolve our frameworks in Australia to make it easier, not harder, to build sustainable spaces. These are two stories of how people and companies, with good intentions, are held captive to due process, systems, policies and procedures without due consideration to pragmatism, actuality and the practicality of business survival. GECA is doing good work, so are their auditors. But we are advocating for reform and a call to action toward collaboration and review of certification pathways, not rejection of certification.
Mark Swanton is the founder and co-owner of KE-ZU.
This article first appeared in the October edition of FM magazine. To download the entire edition for free, click here.
