On 25^th June 2020, The AHWG working group convened the 7^th meeting to have the sub-working groups updated on their progress and to consider THA-TLAS structure and Thai timber import control plan.

Mr. Akarin Wongapirat, the representative of the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), presented the Product Coverages (PC) sub-working group plan to engage relevant stakeholders who will be affected the PC annex to the FLEGT-VPA process.Mr.Vijarn Senskul, Director of the Royal Forest Department Legal Office, along with Ms. Pawinee Udommai, the annex drafting consultant, reported the current development of the LD annex, which are revised to include more regulations on the environment, labor welfare, and social responsibilities. Mr Wichit Prathanrad, the President of the Reclaimed Timber Association, informed the AHWG group about the current project to study reclaimed timber supply chain control. Mr. Poramet Payapstan, the representative of RECOFTC, gave a presentation on the RECOFTC project, which will conduct a study to assess Thai CSOs’ capacity to be a monitoring organization in the FLEGT-VPA process. The Royal Forest Department, FAO, and the AHWG will assist the two projects closely.

In the last session of the meeting, the THA-TLAS presented the current drafting of the THA-TLAS system. The AHWG assigned the RFD to draft out recommendations on the agencies that will take charge of the verification and license issuance in the THA-TLAS system. The sub-working group will further develop the THA-TLAS system and presented the plan to the AHWG soon. To assist the working group in deciding on the Thai import control, Mr. Somporn Khongtanakrittakorn, a consultant from Forest Trends, made summaries about EU UK US and the Republic of Korea import controls. The working group believes that more information is still needed before drawing out the import control plan and assigned the Import Control sub-working group to study the pros and cons of different import control approaches and presented to the AHWG group in the next meeting.