BELGICA – The European Union (UE) and Vietnam signed a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT). The agreement will help improve forest governance, address illegal logging and promote trade of verified legal timber products from Vietnam to the EU, and other markets.

The Agreement was signed on 19 October 2018 by EU High Representative/Vice-President, Federica Mogherini; the Chancellor of Austria, Sebastian Kurz, and the Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam, Nguyen Xuan Cuong. It will enter into force after each Party ratifies it in line with their internal procedures.

“The EU welcomes the progress Vietnam has made in preparing to implement the VPA and initial steps in strengthening controls of the timber it imports,” said High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini. “However, more needs to be done. Controlling the legality of imports will be critical to full implementation of the VPA and ensuring that Vietnam’s exports of timber and timber products to the EU come from legal sources. The EU will maintain close contact with Vietnam and support their efforts in delivering results on the ground.”

To implement the VPA, Vietnam will have to develop robust and credible systems to ensure that its exports of timber and timber products come from legal sources, verifying that both domestic and imported timber have been legally harvested and traded in accordance with the relevant legislation in the country of harvest.