The European Union (EU) and the Kingdom of Thailand held its third Negotiation Session on a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT). The negotiation session took place virtually on 16 September 2020. Both sides aim to develop a system to assure the verification of the legality of timber and timber products produced, imported and exported by Thailand. The Agreement also promotes trade in legal timber products, improve forest governance, and contribute to combatting illegal logging in Thailand.

‘The Kingdom of Thailand is committed to realizing the SDGs as pertains to achieving better conservation and restoration of forest resources, as well as encouraging individuals to grow economically viable trees and maximize the sustainable use of forest land, ‘said Mr. Pongboon Pongtong, Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) of Thailand. ‘Our negotiations with the EU have enhanced forest law enforcement and forest governance, strengthened sustainable and legal forest management in Thailand, and fostered stakeholder engagement in the management of forest resources.’

Since the beginning of the negotiations, Thailand has, through a national multi-stakeholder process, revised the applicable national laws and regulations that the Kingdom of Thailand will utilize to ensure legality of timber and timber products. Thailand is currently at an advanced stage of developing its Timber Legality Assurance System (TLAS) as well as putting the timber supply chain controls in place. Through the implementation of its TLAS, Thailand will demonstrate and provide the necessary assurances that timber and timber products produced and exported from the Kingdom of Thailand are legal.

During the Third Negotiation session, the EU and Thailand provided updates on overarching forest strategy and relevant legislative developments and initiatives including the revision of the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR), the amendment of Thailand’s Forest Act, Community Forest Act, as well as several other relevant regulations approved in 2019.

The EU and Thailand reviewed the amendments of the timber legality definition. Thailand
is on track to finalizing the range of timber and timber products that will be covered by
the Agreement and subject to the FLEGT licensing scheme.

Significant progress has been made in the deliberation of the Annexes on TLAS and Supply Chain Controls. Thailand is currently exploring different approaches and successful models
to follow for the control of the supply chain of timber derived from private lands and
the legality of timber imports. Once the issues in discussion are resolved and finalized, they will be incorporated into the Annexes of the VPA.

During the negotiations, the parties also concluded preliminary work on the Annexes dealing with the ‘Conditions for Release for the Free Circulation in the Union of Thai FLEGT Licensed Timber Products’ and the ‘Terms of Reference for Independent Audit.’ The latter will be deemed as guidelines for monitoring the performance of the FLEGT Licensing Scheme.

‘The European Union remains committed to reaching, as quickly as possible, an agreement with Thailand to fight against illegal logging and associated trade, and I’m pleased to confirm that good progress has taken place in this third round of negotiations.’ said Hugo-Maria Schally, Head of Unit of Multilateral Environmental Cooperation at DG Environment and
the head of the EU delegation during the negotiation session.

Following the negotiations, both sides will continue to further develop the timber legality assurance system, the supply chain control system and other annexes that form part of the final agreement. Furthermore, the EU will share the information and statistics on the EU’s related market policies and market trends with Thailand and will further explore more possibilities of supporting Thailand on technical assistance, enhancement of the participatory process and capacity building especially in the areas of product traceability and law enforcement.

Currently, 15 countries worldwide are negotiating or implementing VPAs with the EU. The VPA process creates an unprecedented opportunity for Thailand to join a coalition of countries that are fighting illegal logging and improving forest governance around the globe.