MSIAN TIMBER TO GAIN EASY ACCESS INTO EU MARKET WITH VPA

By Tengku Noor Shamsiah Tengku Abdullah

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 2 (Bernama) -- Malaysian timber and timber products will
gain easy access into the European Union market with the signing of a bilateral
Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA), Ambassador and Head of Delegation of the
European Commission (EC) here in Malaysia, Vincent Piket said.

"Indeed I hope to reach the agreement in the first three or four months of
2009," he told Bernama.

Piket said the negotiations between Malaysia and the EU on the timber trade
agreement had seen six rounds of talks.

It is reaching the final phase, he added.

The EU would be introducing next year a new legislation that would require
importers of timber and timber products to demonstrate that the wood used is
legally harvested and traded.

"That is the environmental objective we have and being shared by the
Malaysian government. The agreement that we are negotiating with Malaysia
now is to come to a recognition by the EU of Malaysia's certification system
for timber," he said.

If that goes through, then Malaysian wood products can enter the EU without
any further certification requirements, he said.

That will be good for Malaysia and it will give its exporters specific
advantage on the European market for quite some time to come, as Malaysia is
well ahead of any other Asean country involved in the timber negotiation with
the EU, he added.

As part of the commitment to fight illegally-harvested timber, the European
Commission (EC) had taken the initiative to develop its own Forest Law
Enforcement, Government and Trade (FLEGT) action plan.

The plan aims to eliminate imports of illegally-harvested timber and timber
products into the EU while supporting progress towards sustainable forest
management.

The EU, a significant consumer of timber products, shares responsibility
with timber-producing countries in tackling illegal logging and related trade.

The core element in the approach was the signing of bilateral VPAs between
the EU and major timber-producing countries.

VPAs are based on the establishment of licensing schemes to ensure that only
legal timber enters the EU.
-- BERNAMA