Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs)
At the heart of the FLEGT action plan are Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) which are negotiated between the EU and individual timber producing countries suffering illegal logging problems affecting trade with the EU.
These agreements define the scope and legality of wood products from the producer country, and establish a system for tracking and licensing wood products destined for the EU market.
In December 2005, the European Council adopted Regulation No 2173/2005 that mandates EU member states to control timber imports under the VPA and the wider FLEGT Action Plan.
Since then, a range of countries worldwide are at different stages in the VPA negotiation process. Various countries in Asia and the Pacific have had differing levels of engagement with the EU on VPAs.
As of mid 2010, Indonesia and Malaysia had entered formal negotiations with the EU on VPAs, while other countries such as Vietnam, Thailand, and Papua New Guinea are informally exploring the issue with the EU, and are at different stages in this process.
The Action Plan linked reduction in illegal logging with improved forest governance, and so transparency and civil society participation in the agreements are a core requirement of the process, including in determining what is legal, and, importantly, what is illegal. As such, VPAs offer valuable opportunities and tools for civil society to engage with government and industry that may not have been a normal option.
Key sources on FLEGT VPAs:
- Logging off – A Website tracking progress on VPAs around the world, including in Asia and the Pacific, run by a collection of NGOs and civil society organisations around the world.
- Official VPA data sheet (March 2007)