MINNEAPOLIS MN -- The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) issued a statement noting that the wood seized by the Department of Justice in the August 24 raid of Gibson Guitar's factory in Nashville in not FSC certified.

The FSC's statement contradicted comments released by Gibson Guitar CEO Henry Juszkiewicz the day after DOJ agents armed with automatic weapons confiscated pallets of ebony and rosewood lumber, dozens of guitars and electronic files from the Nashville plant.

"Agents seized wood that was Forest Stewardship Council controlled,” Juszkiewicz said. “Gibson has a long history of supporting sustainable and responsible sources of wood and has worked diligently with entities such as the Rainforest Alliance and Greenpeace to secure FSC-certified sup"plies. The wood seized on August 24 satisfied FSC standards."

Following is FSC's statement in its entirety.

"In response to recent media coverage of the federal raid of Gibson Guitar Corporation factories in Tennessee, the Forest Stewardship Council has issued the following statement:

"Not all the wood Gibson Guitar Corporation uses is FSC certified. This story is about the non-certified wood.

"So while Gibson has shown important sector leadership by stimulating demand for FSC-certified wood, the federal investigation addresses the wood they use that is not FSC certified.

"FSC-certification is a component of due care that companies can use, but unless 100% of the wood used is FSC certified, other mechanisms are required too. In this instance, it is the non-certified wood that is being questioned.

"As part of its global forest management standard, FSC requires compliance with national and local forest practice regulations. FSC was not designed to address laws related to value-added manufacturing, which appears to be the subject of the recent action against Gibson."