17 June 2021 – the FLEGT VPA ad-hoc working group called for the sixth meeting of this year to deliberate the draft Annex 1 Product Scope, guidelines for declaring timber legality from Sor Por Kor land, and import control concept.
Annex 1 Product Scope, continuously reviewed by the FLEGT VPA working groups and external stakeholders to reflect the Thai timber trade, was approved for submission to the EU to prepare for this year’s negotiation. The main revisions were taken following the remaining issues, primarily in the recycled product group. It was concluded that pulp and paper derived from recycled material would be exempted from the Thai FLEGT VPA, meaning those products will be allowed into the EU without FLEGT Licence. FLEGT VPA working group, with support from the Federation of Thai Industries, will design a certification scheme in which the operators can apply for and use the certification as a document accompanying their shipments to the EU.
Draft guidelines for declaring the legality of timber from Sor Por Kor land were also approved. The document will assist farmers in the voluntary methods they can follow to assure the legitimacy of their timber sources. As a result of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment announcement last year, harvesting, transportation, and processing timber cultivated on Sor Por Kor are unregulated. Current regulations allow farmers to voluntarily apply for timber certification (18/1), register as forest plantation or inform a district chief when transporting the timber. With the guideline for Sor Por Kor, self-declaration is added, allowing farmers to declare the timber by themselves.
The ad-hoc working group approved the revision points in the main areas of the Import Control concept draft – due diligence requirement, risk assessment guideline, and regulatory and institutional arrangement.
The FLEGT VPA process continuously progresses forward with many ongoing works supported by funding from the EU-FAO FLEGT Programme to fulfill the Thai timber industry’s legality and supply chain control. Primary Mills Operation to Ensure the Legality of Incoming Timbers and their Risk Assessment is conducting a study on the current risk assessment method employed by the processing mills to screen timber before purchasing. The findings will help the working group design a guideline to supplement the operators’ risk assessment of timber to ensure no illegal timber receiving to the processing mill. As part of the study, the project will also analyze the current standing tree stock in Thailand and present an existing method that the Thai government implements to safeguard confiscated timber from entering the supply chain.
The expedition of the FLEGT VPA negotiation came into full effect. The cooperation between the government and stakeholders and strong support from the FLEGT Asia Programme, European Forest Institute, and the EU-FAO FLEGT Programme. Four annex drafts: Annex 1 Product Scope, Annex 4 Licensing Scheme, Annex 5 THA-TLAS, Annex 6 Supply Chain Control of Timber in Thailand, are ready for this year’s negotiation. Once the deliberation between Thailand and the EU is complete in all ten annexes, Thailand and the EU will proceed to the FLEGT VPA signing agreement and implementation phase. In the first phase of the implementation, Thailand will arrange all the institutional and regulatory preparation and improve its legal enforcement and transparency in the forest sector to support the THA-TLAS system and FLEGT Licence.
