On March 5th, 2018, TEFSO had conducted a sub-working group meeting. The objective of the meeting was to bring the issues regarding non- restricted timber under M.7 and DDS into conclusions as a preparation for the upcoming JEM3. The meeting summaries are as follows:
Non- Restricted Timber Under M.7
According to the meeting, the definition of “the unregulated timber on private land” is the timber on land with ownership and the possessory right and not that on the forest land. Also, there was a definition of “land in the Kingdom of Thailand” given which means all lands including the private land. Moreover, it was agreed to change the wording from “Unregulated Timber” to “Non- Restricted Timber M.7” and to change the title name from “Procedures of Unregulated Timbers on Private Land” to “Procedures of Timbers on Private Land”.
Besides, it was proposed to use new wordings which would be easier for the outsider to understand. The details are as follows:
- Restricted Timber under Forest Act
- Non- Restricted Timber under Forest Act
- Restricted Timber under M.7
- Non-Restricted Timber under M.7
For the diagram showing procedures of non-restricted timbers under M.7 on private land, there are some details to be added into the diagram such as the agents part into the diagram such as middleman (trader/ supplier both with stock and without stock, middleman from the factory, and direct pathway without middleman). For the diagram description part, there were some revisions in the diagram description part.
For the Royal Forest check, it was agreed to still use the source documents of timber such as transportation Certificate, Confirmation Letter of Transformed Timber, Confirmation Letter of transformed Dipterocarp while other documents can be excluded.
Due Diligence System (DDS)
According to the meeting, it was agreed to control all importing timber (Mandatory) by using the DDS. The responsible authorities are the Thai Customs Department and the Royal Forest Department. Also, the Ministry of Commerce was proposed to issue the obligation note for the importing private sector to comply with the DDS.
For the controlled products, it was agreed to be the products in the product scope. Every shipment of the products is obliged to be through the DDS.
Moreover, it was suggested to write the paper based on the large operators in order to conduct the field test. For the upcoming JEM3, Thai side would develop the DDS documents and conduct a field-test based on the documents in order to collect its weak and strong points together with the implementation possibilities both on the overview and on the minor operators.
