Around 10 of the delegates at the Interactive Dialogue on Indonesian Legal Timber were Timber Trade Federation members and TTF sustainability manager Anand Punja was among the speakers.
"The Indonesian delegation heard what UK importers are expecting of them under the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR) and emphasised how seriously they are taking it," he said. "The discussion covered the commercial risks to their business involved and also the TTF’s Responsible Purchasing Policy [due diligence illegality risk assessment system] and the Indonesian SVLK legality assurance programme."
Timber backed by the SVLK system, he added, would be considered of low risk of illegality, but still subject to further EUTR due diligence risk assessment until Indonesia’s EU Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) is in place. The Indonesians are now hoping to sign the latter in April.
