Capacity4Dev: Indonesia and the EU sign a Voluntary Partnership Agreement
As seen on Capacity4Dev
On 30 September 2013, representatives from the Government of Indonesia and the European Union (EU) marked their mutual commitment to ensuring that timber entering the EU is produced legally. They signed a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) at a ceremony in Brussels.
Indonesia and the EU are still to ratify the agreement and to determine whether Indonesia’s system for assuring the legality of its timber under VPA requirements is fully operational. Once these two steps are completed, Indonesian timber and timber products included in the VPA can enter the EU market as FLEGT-licensed timber, which is automatically considered legal under the terms of new EU Timber Regulation enforced in March 2013.
Indonesia and the EU are important trading partners. Ten per cent by value of Indonesian timber and timber products exports are currently destined for the EU.
The EU Council decision on the conclusion of the VPA can be found here.
Read more about the signing of the VPA here.
