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EU Timber Regulation Training of TrainersFLEGT Action Plan: how different components are interlinked

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FLEGT Key Components

1. Support to producer countries2. Support for private sector initiatives3. Investment safeguards4. Addressing the problem of conflict timber 5. Activities to promote trade in legal timber• Voluntary Partnership Agreements

6. Additional options for legislation• EU Timber Regulation (due diligence)

7. Public timber procurement policies

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• An EU Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) is a legally binding agreement between the EU and an individual timber exporting country, which aims to ensure trade only in legal timber and to improve forest governance.• VPA process includes guidance on legality definition

Every country has a sovereign right to define legality The process to define legality is based on

stakeholder involvement and consensus Has to cover certain key elements

Voluntary Partnership Agreements

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FLEGT VPA progressA Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) has been signed by:• Ghana (November 2009)• The Republic of Congo (Congo Brazzaville) (May 2010)• Cameroon (October 2010)• Central African Republic (November 2011)• Indonesia (signature foreseen 2nd half of 2013) • Liberia (July 2011) Negotiations for future agreements are currently being conducted with Malaysia, Vietnam, Gabon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guyana, Honduras, Côte d’Ivoire, Thailand and LaosNo FLEGT-licensed timber is available yet

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VPA progress

Source: http://www.euflegt.efi.int/vpa-countries;As of January 2015

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FLEGT timber licensing scheme

• Core component of VPA, also referred to as Timber Legality Assurance System (TLAS)• Five main elements:

Definition of legality (forest to port) Control of the supply chain (traceability) Verification (forest and supply chain) Issuance of licences (FLEGT licences) Independent monitoring

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Relative impact of implementing sustainable forest management at a few forest management units (FMU) versus implementing the aspects of sustainability required by a range of laws identified at a VPA at national level.

Schematic representation of implementing FMU vs VPA process

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FLEGT Key Components

1. Support to Producer Countries2. Support for Private Sector Initiatives3. Investment safeguards4. Addressing the problem of conflict timber 5. Activities to promote trade in legal timber• Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs)

6. Additional options for legislation• EU Timber Regulation (due diligence)

7. Public Timber Procurement Policies

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Compliance with the regulation

• The EU Timber Regulation does not endorse particular legality or forest certification schemes, though risk assessment criteria may include third party verification

The EU TR mentions: ‘assurance of compliance with applicable legislation, which may include certification or other third-party-verified schemes which cover compliance with applicable legislation’

• Only timber and timber products with a FLEGT licence or a CITES permit automatically comply with the EU Timber Regulation

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FLEGT key components

1. Support to producer countries2. Support for private sector Initiatives3. Investment safeguards4. Addressing the problem of conflict timber 5. Activities to promote trade in legal timber• Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs)

6. Additional options for legislation• EU Timber Regulation (due diligence)

7. Public timber procurement policies

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Public procurement policies

Public procurement policy for timberSome Green Public Procurement (GPP)

Product based requirements for timber in place or under development

The major EU importing countries have policies in place (except Spain and Italy)

Source: EU Market conditions for ‘verified legal’ and.., Oliver (2009)

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Evidence of compliance with public procurement policiesFR DE BE NL UK DK

Current requirement SustainabilityLegal, Sust. Pref.

Forest certification schemes accepted as ensuring sustainability

FSC® +PEFC

FSC® +PEFC

FSC® +PEFC

FSC®+PEFC1

FSC® +PEFC

FSC® +PEFC

FLEGT licence YES NO NO YES YES YES

Alternative evidence/the ‘or equivalent’ to meeting the requirements

Limited guidance

No guidance

No guidance

Detailed guidance

Detailed guidance

Some guidance

1. National schemes relevant for NL market assessed. So far assessed PEFC Finland, PEFC Sweden, PEFC Belgium, PEFC Austria, and are found to be compliance.

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Summary• Different components of FLEGT Action Plan are

interlinked• VPA and EU TR reinforce each other: FLEGT

licence is proof of legality under EU TR• VPA: improve governance, supply side• Public procurement policies and EU TR: demand

side approach Create incentives for legally (and sustainably)

produced timber Create incentives for countries to join VPA

All omissions, inaccuracies or views expressed in this document do not necessarily represent the views of BMZ. Furthermore changes may have been made to the original material by the conductors of this training. The material is available for download at http://capacity4dev.ec.europa.eu/public-flegt/documents?gterm[0]=2144.

The development of this training material was financed by the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)