Vietnamese timber exports to the EU will face new requirements, including proof that the sources of timber and timber products are not illegally harvested in the near future.
Timber and timber products exports to EU must be verified as legally logged
The new requirements were hammered out in bilateral negotiations between Vietnam and the EU for the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) that are expected to conclude by the end of this year.
The EU Timber Regulation that took effect last last March as well as the Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPA) are the two-part EU Action Plan of Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT), which is the EU’s initiative to combat illegal logging and improve forest protection. Vietnam is one of EU’s pioneer FLEGT partners in Asia.
The first part of the EU FLEGT Action Plan came into effect in May 2003, and sets out measures to minimise the risk of illegally harvested timber and timber products being placed on the EU market. This is a result of the fact that as much as 19% of timber imports to the EU are allegedly from illegal sources.
In order to better prepare for their business in the EU market and ensure that their products are accepted for import, Vietnamese exporters must buy legal timber, document the source and check their products against the list of products covered by the EU’s timber regulations.
A country that has a Voluntary Partnership Agreement and an operational FLEGT-licensing system based on that agreement can issue FLEGT licenses, verifying products as legal.
Vietnam officially entered into the FLEGT negotiations in May 2010. To date, three rounds of negotiations have taken place. As part of the negotiation process, technical sessions, stakeholder consultations and technical support have being conducted with the aim of concluding negotiations for an EU-Vietnam Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) by the end of 2014.
As part of the effort, three new EU-funded projects worth EUR3 million were launched on February 18 in Hanoi. The aim is to support Vietnam and neighbouring countries in combating illegal logging and to promote the trade of legal timber and timber products as well as improve sustainable use of forests in Vietnam.
“These projects are to support non-governmental organisations as well as small and medium-sized enterprises to contribute to the negotiation and participate in the implementation of the FLEGT’s VPA,” said the head of the EU Delegation to Vietnam, Ambassador Franz Jessen.
Last year, Vietnam took in USD5.5 million from timber and timber product exports, up 15.24% from the previous year.
During the first eleven months of last year, the US was Vietnam’s largest timber and timber products export market, with revenues of USD1.79 million, up 10.26% from the year before. It was followed by China, with revenues of over USD882,000, up 34.64% on year and Japan with revenues of over USD743,000, up 20.97%.
European countries, including the UK, Canada, Germany and France accounted for 9.48% of Vietnam’s timber export markets during the period.
Đăng ký: VietNam News
