The 7th multi-stakeholder implementation core group meeting on VPA/FLEGT was organized on November 6th, 2019 in Ha Noi. At the meeting, the leading agency of drafting team of the Decree on Vietnam Timber Legality Assurance System (VNTLAS) shared their accountability report in which they explained that VNTLAS is stipulated in many legal documents.
Voluntary Partnership Agreement on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance, and Trade (VPA/FLEGT) was signed by the European Union and the Government of Vietnam on October 19th, 2018 and entered into force on June 1st, 2019. To implement the Agreement, Vietnam will develop and operate VNTLAS to ensure that Vietnam’s exported timber and timber products are legal, including a systematic verification to guarantee that Vietnamese enterprises import legally harvested and traded timber in accordance with laws of original country of harvest. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) designated the Vietnam Administration of Foretry (VNFOREST) to lead the development of the Decree on VNTLAS from December 2018; and in February 2019, the VNFOREST assigned the Forest Protection Department to hold the leading role in the formulation process..
On May 27th, 2019, a draft Decree on VNTLAS was posted on the Government’sand MARD’s Web portal to collect comments from relevent individuals, organizations and groups affected by the Decree. VNFOREST organized several consultation workshops to get inputs on the draft in some localities (Ha Noi, Da Nang, Binh Dinh, Ho Chi Minh...). Up to October 7th, 2019, MARD have received 70 written commentary papers with 402 comments from ministries, ministerial agencies, provincial People's Committee, provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, and social organizations (including SRD’s comments). Many comments made both in writing as well as in verbal forms at the 6th and 7th multi-stakeholder implementation core group meeting, indicated that it is not reasonable that "the draft VNTLAS decree only regulates the import and export of timber and timber products; criteria, authority, procedures for classification of timber processing and exporting enterprises and FLEGT licensing”. Because it is stated in the Article 8 of the VPA/FLEGT and the Article 69 of the Vietnam Forestry Law that, VNTLAS is a mandatory requirement for all timber and timber products in the supply chain regardless of objectives or markets (in other words, it does not only include importation and exportation, but domestic consumption).
Following the aforementioned comments, the representative of the leading agency explained that VNTLAS is regulated in many legal documents in the fields of forestry, customs, foreign trade, land, labour and handling administrative violations, etc.. In forestry sector, since the Forestry Law was promulgated, the Government and MARD have issued 4 decrees, 7 circulars to detail the implementation of the law, many contents of which relate to VNTLAS. In addition,, the Government of Vietnam committed to institutionalizing the VPA/FLEGT in only 4 key areas: i) management of imported timber, ii) classification of enterprises, iii) verification of export and iv) FLEGT licensing (Statement No. 1371 byMARD on Feburary 27th, 2019 and was approved by the Government with the Resolution No.25 dated on April 23th, 2019). The draft VNTLAS decree only regulates the classification of timber processing and exporting enterprises because the classification of timber –harvesting, trading, transporting and processing businesses does not comply with the current system of legal documents, and not enable favorable conditions for, and not promote production and business activities of enterprises.
Currently, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has appraised the draft VNTLAS Decree. According to the plan, the leading agency of drafting team of the Decree will perform their accountability, take account of MoJ’s feedback to finalize the draft Decree and submit it to the Government’s Office for more comments. Upon the receipt of the Government’s feedback, the draft Decree will be revised and finalized, and be submitted to the Government for approval in December, 2019.
The multi-stakeholder implementation core group on the VPA/FLEGT (the multi-stakeholder core group was established right after the two sides finished the negotiation process (May 2017) works as a focal point to coordinate and promote the participation of multistakeholders in the implementation of the VPA/FLEGT in Vietnam and support the Joint Implementation Committee (JIC) in monitoring and evaluating the implementation of the Agreement. The multistakeholder core group operates under an open mechanism, currently there are 38 participating organizations including: state management agencies; trade associations; social organizations; non-governmental organizations; and research institutions. The core group is co-chaired by a leader of the VNFOREST and one representative of the group (rotating) and the group will send its recommendations directly to JEM and JIC.a

The 7th multi-stakeholder implementation core group meeting on VPA/FLEGT (Photo of SRD)