1 December 2020 – the FLEGT VPA ad-hoc working group held the 11th meeting to deliberate on the revised VPA roadmap, findings on the current regime and regulations for timber on government authorized public land, and technical recommendations to develop the import control system. In this meeting, a representative of the Supply Chain Control on Private Land sub-working group report the current work progress in refining the guideline for the supply chain control on private land.
The FLEGT VPA ad-hoc working group approved the revised VPA roadmap, which will be sent to the EU to review. The revision was proposed to expedite the FLEGT VPA negotiation process. Thailand aims to reach an agreement on most annexes with the EU by the next Negotiation so that Thailand and the EU can hold a final round of annex negotiation and deliberation by 2022.
RECOFTC, leader of the supply chain control on the public land sub-working group, presented the findings on regime and regulations of timber operation on government authorized public land. The ad-hoc working group provided suggestions and inform the sub-working group to proceed with the guideline for supply chain control on private land drafting.
The consultant from Forest Trends, who assist the ad-hoc working group in developing the timber import control guideline, presented technical recommendations to improve the guideline. The recommendations cover various aspects that are important to implementing import control in Thailand, such as the need for regulatory and institutional development and the development of the comprehensive due diligence guideline for both operators and relevant government agencies.
Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), leader of the supply chain control on the private land sub-working group, reported on the current progress in developing the supply chain control guidelines. Following the decisions from the 10th ad-hoc working group meeting, guidelines for supply chain control on private land have been improved. The guideline will provide two methods for timber from private land based on the selling types: those sold by log and those sold by weight.
On a separate note, the ad-hoc working group welcomed the association of Thai timber exporters, a newly appointed member of the ad-hoc working group committee. The association of Thai timber exporters will undoubtedly provide valuable insights and recommendations to the Thai timber import control drafting.
