Hanoi (VNA) – The Voluntary PartnershipAgreement (VPA) on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance, and Trade (FLEGT)between the European Union (EU) and Vietnam will come into force on June 1,2019.

The Ministry of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment and the EU mission to Hanoi jointly held a press conference on May8 to announce the end of the ratification and approval process of theagreement.

On April 15, 2019, the European Council sent adiplomatic note to the Vietnamese mission in Brussels, announcing the end ofthe ratification process of the agreement with Vietnam after the EuropeanParliament voted to ratify it on March 12, 2019.

On April 23, 2019, the Vietnamese Governmentissued a resolution approving the VPA/FLEGT between Vietnam and the EU.

According to Nguyen Quoc Tri, DirectorGeneral of the General Department of Forestry under the Ministryof Agriculture and Rural Development, the enforcement of the VPA/FLEGT marksthe start of the implementation of cooperation commitments to solve illegaltimber exploitation and trade between Vietnam and the EU.

Vietnam will build and put into operation atimber legality assurance system (VNTLAS) to ensure that the country’s exportedwood and timber products have legal origin certificates and Vietnamese importfirms are able to harvest and trade wood in accordance with the foreigncountries’ laws, he said.

The country will continue improving legaldocuments harmonising the commitments of the VPA/FLEGT agreement, including thebuilding of a decree regulating the VNTLAS, which will be submitted to theGovernment for promulgation at the end of this year, he added.

Vietnam and the EU agreed to establish a jointimplementation committee (JIC) to supervise and evaluate the fullimplementation of the agreement’s commitments, a process which may be extendedfor several years.

JIC will ensure there is a dialogue mechanism,information sharing, and updated announcements between the two sides, as wellas reinforce the operation of the multi-stakeholder implementation core groupof Vietnam.

A general assessment will be conducted beforethe FLEGT licensing mechanism of the VNTLAS officially operates. To that end,each batch of Vietnamese wood and timber products exported to the EU will beaccompanied by a FLEGT licence in a bid to prevent the illegal import of woodinto the EU market.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment Ha Cong Tuan said the VPA / FLEGT Agreement conveys a strong signalof Vietnam’s and the EU’s commitment to promoting the implementation of the “Tradeand Sustainable Development” chapter of the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement(EVFTA), including regulations on sustainable forest management and forestproduct trade.

Ambassador Bruno Angelet, head of the EU missionto Hanoi, shared that Vietnam was the second country in Asia that the bloc hassigned a VPA/FLEGT with, following Indonesia.

Once the agreement is fully enforced, Vietnam’sfurniture industry will see strong developments, he said, adding that the EUwill continue supporting Vietnam in building the VNTLAS and FLEGT licensingmechanism. 

The EU is the fourth biggest import market ofVietnamese wood products. In recent years, wood exports to the market have accountedfor 13-17 percent of the total turnover of Vietnamese timber products. –VNA