W

ith or without the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) on timber with the European Union (EU), Indonesia's timber exports and timber products to Europe had increased significantly thanks to the legal timber licensing Indonesia had developed these last few years, an EU official has said.

EU delegation to Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam and ASEAN deputy head Colin Crooks said Indonesian timber entering Europe in the first quarter of this year more than doubled compared to last year, with the introduction of an Indonesian timber legality verification certificate, known locally by the acronym SVLK, which ensured timber and timber products from the country had been sourced legally.

Data from the Trade Ministry shows that timber and timber product exports, mostly furniture, soared by 114 percent to US$416 million in the first quarter of this year, compared to $193.9 million in the same period last year.

The SVLK, which was introduced in 2003 to fight illegal logging and log trading, has become mandatory for forest concessions and timber-related industries since 2010, as the government tried to comply with the EU timber regulation, which was set up under the same pretense and that came into power in March.

'EU importers have this obligation to conduct due diligence, they really love the SVLK because we know that Indonesia has done hard work to bring [the commitment against illegal logging and log trading] into effect. People recognize that SVLK is a good assurance that Indonesia is serious about timber legality,' Crooks said during his recent visit to The Jakarta Post's office.

The EU timber regulation requires importers to conduct due diligence to ensure the timber is legal. These regulations apply to a wide range of timber products, with exceptions for products with a Forestry Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) VPA license or a Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species license. Timber with these licenses is considered by the EU to have been legally harvested.

Indonesia negotiated the VPA with the EU in 2007 and was the first country to conclude the negotiation. The agreement will give Indonesia's timber easier access to the EU market. However, the signing of the agreement has been delayed several times.

Crooks said the necessity for translation into 22 EU languages was behind the postponement, but ensured that despite the delayed signing, the certification had paid off handsomely as shown from the increasing trade.

He said the SVLK system was still under assessment before being recognized by the EU under the FLEGT system, but the certification itself was a ticket to building European market confidence over Indonesia's timber and timber products, which once the VPA was signed and ratified, could go directly to the European market.

Despite being among the first countries to reach an accord with the EU, some African countries ' such as the Republic of Congo, Liberia, Ghana and Cameroon ' have in fact signed and ratified the preferential agreement, further raising the government's concerns over the EU willingness to sign the VPA with Indonesia.

Crooks said despite the postponement, Indonesia was leading in accessing the European market after the timber regulation came into effect, as other countries had yet to develop a certification. He said Indonesia simply applied a different approach compared to others.

'The other countries are behind Indonesia despite them having signed the VPA. They cannot yet bring it into force because they have to bring the system into place,' Crooks said.

'Indonesia already has a competitive advantage, because Indonesia is ahead of other countries by setting SVLK in place first of all. The signing is only one part of the process.'

Crooks said the EU and the Indonesian government had yet to schedule a specific date for the signing but added that the VPA would be inked 'in the coming weeks'.

A delayed signing is not the only issue the government has expressed discontent with.

The Forestry Ministry's secretary-general Hadi Daryanto told the Post recently that the government was questioning the EU's commitment to actually combat illegal logging and log trading by excluding Sabah and Sarawak ' which have long been known as laundering areas for legal timber from Indonesia ' from its VPA with Malaysia.

On the issue, Crooks said that negotiation in terms of whether or not the states would be included in the VPA with Malaysia was still continuing and the outcome was still unknown.

'[But] If Sarawah is excluded from the agreement, by definition no Sarawak timber can enter the EU. Full stop, end of story,' he said.

Indonesia and Malaysia are among the top 10 suppliers of wood and wood products to the EU.

EU countries import US$1.2 billion worth of timber and paper from Indonesia annually, which is equal to 15 percent of total wood-based exports, while Malaysia, according to data released by the EU delegation to Malaysia, exported around 11 percent of its total timber and timber product exports to the EU, or equal to $668.91 million.