On 17th July 2018, Thai- EU FLEGT Secretariat Office (TEFSO) had arranged the 4th Joint Expert Meeting (JEM4) between Thailand and the European Union (EU) at Ramada Plaza Menam Riverside Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand. Thailand represented by Mr. Pralong Damrongthai, the Inspector General of the Thai Ministry of National Resources and Environment. The EU represented by Mr. Luca PEREZ, the team leader, International Forest Issues, together with Mrs. Sutthiya CHANTAWARANGUL, EU Delegation to Thailand. Moreover, there were some other relevant organisation attended the meeting; that were representatives from the European Forest Institute (EFI) represented by Mr. Alexander HINRICHS, head of Asia Office, and observers from civil society and other related organisation such as RECOFTC and FAO.
This meeting aimed to prepare for the upcoming Negotiation which will be hold on 18th-19th July 2018. The meeting started by providing updates on VPA progression since the 3rd JEM or JEM3 and on forest policy reformation which for the Community Forest Bill is presently under consideration of the Cabinet Meeting and the Forest Bill (especially the section 7) is under legal reformation.
After that, Thai side had reported the updates on legality definition (LD) before going through product scope updates. For the product scope, Thailand is now considering to include bamboo into Thai product scope while tending not to include recycled and reclaimed timber. However, this will be further discussed.
During the afternoon session, there were a presentation regarding overview of timber supply chain control and verification which the EU suggested to add the linkage between Thai National Single Window to clearer clarify the overall of the system. Subsequently, the implementation of supply chain control on private land which was suggested to keep the document up-to-date, practical, and collocate with the present Thai context. Moreover, Thai side had reported the implementation of import control and Thai Legality Assurance System (TLAS) development, then following with the discussion over VPA Legal Text. At the end of the meeting, there were a discussion regarding VPA Roadmap for the next Negotiation between Thailand and the European Union.
