FLEGT VPA negotiations with Vietnam

27.1.2012

Question for written answer E-000946/2012
to the Commission
Rule 117
Kriton Arsenis (S&D)

The EU is committed to fighting trade in illegal timber through a number of measures, which include the 2003 FLEGT Action Plan and, more recently, the EU Timber Regulation (2010). A milestone of the action plan is the development of Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) with timber-exporting countries. The VPAs contain a so-called Legality Assurance System to ensure that only legally harvested timber is imported into the EU from FLEGT partner countries.

In 2010 the Commission started FLEGT VPA negotiations with Vietnam, a major timber importer and processing country in Asia, and a key global player in the trading of timber products. Vietnam currently imports 80 % of the timber which is used by its timber‑processing industry, mainly for export markets. A number of neighbouring countries exporting to Vietnam can be classified as risky in terms of the legality of their timber supply. Some publicly released reports and articles have appeared in the international press about this.

Can the Commission inform me of the approach being developed by Vietnam to control the legality of the timber entering its processing and export chain, i.e. avoiding the risk of illegal timber laundering and subsequent export to the EU?

Are the main timber suppliers to Vietnam developing systems for ensuring the legality of their timber exports or would they be interested in starting FLEGT VPA negotiations as well?

OJ C 82 E, 21/03/2013