23 Feb. 2022 – As the Fourth Thailand-EU FLEGT VPA Negotiation (NEG 4) is scheduled to take place this year, the Sub-Committee met to adopt the draft Annexes before sending them to the EU.

‘After rounds of Annex deliberation in the multi-stakeholder ad-hoc working group and other related meetings, various projects, as well as many undertaking in the policy/regulatory review, I am confident that we’re almost ready to sign the VPA next year’ – Sapol Boonsermsuk, Director, Forestry Foreign Affairs Office.

Annexes adopted at this meeting are:

• Thai Timber Legality Definitions – an Annex draws from Thai laws related to the legality of timber encompassing all aspects from harvesting, processing, trading, import and export.
• Thai Timber Legality Assurance System (THA-TLAS), an Annex describes the process of the THA-TLAS, a system which Thailand will develop from the existing verification system. THA-TLAS will be an efficient system to verify timber according to the legality and supply chain compliance and give out licenses to verified timber. Once implemented, all timber in the Thai supply chain sold domestically and exported will be subjected to THA-TLAS control. The licensed timber will gain preferential access when shipping to the EU. It will be considered as meeting the criteria of the EUTR without passing through the rigorous due diligence process.
• Thai Supply Chain Controls – an Annex describes the methods of recording and verifying data of each supply chain point from the origin of timber to trading/export point, ensuring traceability of timber in Thailand. Details of the Annex
• Public Disclosure of Information – an Annex details the list of public information that Thailand and the EU must make available to the public and the distribution mechanism. Implementation of this Annex is crucial to forestry governance and functionality of the THA-TLAS. Stakeholders and the public must be able to access useful information for monitoring the Thai timber sector.
  Aside from the four Annexes, the Sub-Committee has reviewed the Legal Text of the VPA, the main VPA agreement which laid out the obligations between Thailand and the EU.

The Sub-Committee is looking forward to the prospect of agreement signing soon. ‘Thai Embassy in Brussels hopes to see the success of the VPA negotiation as this will be a milestone between the cooperation between Thailand and the EU which will help prepare Thailand for the new EU regulation on Deforestation Free -Products.” Kitjawat Tacharoen, Department of European Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.