Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 9 • Number 14 • 21st August 2009

EU-Malaysia VPA Could be Ratified by Year’s End

Discuss this articleShare your views with other visitors, and read what they have to say

The European Commission’s representative in Malaysia says a Voluntary Partnership Agreement between the two trading partners is in its final stage of negotiation and that the Agreement could be signed in the next four months.

“The plan aims to eliminate imports of illegally-harvested timber and timber products into the EU and support progress towards sustainable forest management,” said Vincent Piket, the European Commission’s Ambassador and Head of Delegation in Malaysia. “Both the EU and Malaysian negotiators are in the midst of finalising the agreement and we hope to sign the agreement by year-end.”

Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) lie at the core of the European Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan - the EU’s response to a call for action at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Beyond VPAs, Brussels promised to require EU member states to purchase sustainable forest products, and to introduce a legislative measure discouraging the importation of wood from unknown - and thus, potentially illegal - sources.

There is currently no EU law preventing illegally harvested wood from entering the European market. But Piket said the EU plans to implement safeguards aimed at blocking the import of illegally harvested timber as consumers rejected it.

If signed, the Malaysia deal would be the EU’s first VPA in Asia and the third globally. The EU has only inked two others: one with Ghana in September 2008 and another with the Republic of Congo in May 2009 (see Bridges Trade BioRes, 19 September 2008, http://ictsd.net/i/news/biores/29586/ and 15 May 2009, http://ictsd.net/i/news/biores/46666/).

Malaysia says it hopes the bilateral agreement will improve checks and balances in the sector and help bolster the image of tropical timber, which some environmental groups criticise as an unsustainable industry.

But Piket cautions that the proper framework must be in place before the VPA can be ratified. “A lot of technical work, involving detailed assessment of the legal system in Malaysia, will have to be done,” he told Bernama, the Malaysian government’s press agency. “If we can resolve outstanding issues, then the agreement should be ready by end 2009.”

Malaysia exports more than half a billion Euros worth of timber annually to the EU, making it the industry’s third most important destination.

Piket said the VPA would offer Malaysian exporters an “important advantage” as they will not need to prove the sustainability and legality of their wood. In addition to the economic advantages, the Ambassador said the deal would help combat deforestation and help mitigate climate change.

VPAs do not violate world trade rules because the deals are both voluntary and bilateral.

ICTSD Reporting; “EU Hopes To Sign Timber Trade Agreement With Malaysia By Year End,” BERNAMA; 18 August 2009.