The Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance, and Trade (FLEGT) between the European Union (EU) and Vietnam came into force on June 1, 2019, which is an important milestone in the implementation of sustainable forest management and sustainable development. To implement the commitments of the VPA / FLEGT, the Vietnamese government has […]
VPAs are among the key tools of the EU Forest Law Enforcement, Government and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan of 2003. As of mid-2016, 15 countries were negotiating or implementing VPAs with the EU. Vietnam and the EU began negotiating the VPA in 2010. On 11 May 2017, Vietnam and the EU initialed the VPA. Initialing […]
Legally produced timber means timber products harvested or imported and produced in accordance with legislation of Viet Nam as set out in the Annex II Legality Definition (LD) and other relevant provisions of the VPA and in the case of imported timber with relevant legislation of the country of harvest in line with Annex V of […]
What is the Viet Nam Timber Legality Assurance System? The core of the VPA describes Vietnam’s timber legality assurance system (VNTLAS), which will ensure that timber products are verified as legal according to specified requirements for all stages of the supply chain: from the forest or the point of import, to the point of final […]
The EU Timber Regulation and VPAs are part of the EU’s FLEGT Action Plan. They work together to combat illegal logging and improve forest governance. VPAs are treaties that the EU makes with timber-producing countries that export timber and timber products to the EU. A country that has a VPA and an operational licensing system […]
The EU Timber Regulation applies to timber and timber products being placed on the EU market for the first time. Main requirements for EU operators: Prohibiting illegally harvested timber: The EU Timber Regulation prohibits operators in Europe from placing illegally harvested timber and products derived from illegal timber on the EU market. Legal timber is defined […]