Timber
from Myanmar will be exported to the European Union (EU) starting from
June when EU delegates who will visit Myanmar next month may finish
observing current timber extraction and set up a frame work for legal
trade.
Timber needs to be certified before
export to the European Union (EU) that it has been legally produced
according to the EU’s Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade
(FLEGT).
Myanmar needs to establish timber
regulations before signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the EU for
timber trade, Barthar Cho, joint secretary of the Myanmar Forest
Products and Timber Merchants Association (MFPTMA), said.
MFPTMA is now working with the European Timber Trade Federation to establish timber trade with the EU.
“To export Myanmar timber to European
countries, a certificate will be required for their legal
[authentication]. A delegate group from the EU will visit and observe
the situation of timber production here,” he said.
In fact, Myanmar is a country with most
severe forest depletion in the region due to widespread illegal logging
throughout the country, according to Win Htun, Minister for
Environmental Conservation and Forestry.
The EU FLEGT Action Plan, which all
members of the EU have agreed to, includes a number of measures to
prohibit illegal timber from reaching European markets. Under FLEGT, the
EU makes a trade accord called Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA)
with timber exporting countries to ensure a legal timber trade and
support good forest governance in partner countries. Timber carrying a
FLEGT licence can be traded freely in Europe.
“Internationally it is becoming a trend
that only legally produced wood is allowed to trade, especially in EU
countries. Recently, the sanctions on Myanmar timber was lifted by the
US and Western countries. In such times, we need to have a regulatory
system to certify our timber,” Barthar Cho said.
Currently, a proposal has been sent to
the President to form a 17member committee which will issue licences for
Myanmar timber, by conducting audits on the Chain of Custody process
such as logging, cutting and transporting, to designate wood as legal,
he said.
source: Eleven Myanmar
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