Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2010)405 - Signature of a voluntary partnership agreement with Cameroon on forest law enforcement, governance and trade in timber and derived products to the EU (FLEGT)

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dossier COM(2010)405 - Signature of a voluntary partnership agreement with Cameroon on forest law enforcement, governance and trade in timber and ...
source COM(2010)405 EN
date 28-07-2010
The Action Plan on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) i, endorsed by the Council in 2003 i, proposes a set of measures that include support for timber-producing countries, multilateral collaboration to tackle trade in illegal timber, support for private-sector initiatives and measures to stop investment in activities that encourage illegal logging. The cornerstone of the Action Plan is the establishment of FLEGT partnerships between the European Union and timber-producing countries with the aim of stopping illegal logging. In 2005 the Council adopted Regulation (EC) No 2173/2005 i which establishes a licensing scheme and a mechanism to verify the legality of timber imports into the European Union.

In December 2005 the Council issued directives instructing the Commission to negotiate partnership agreements with timber-producing countries in order to implement the EU FLEGT Action Plan and, in particular, to encourage trade in verified legal timber imports into the European Union from such partner countries i. The partnership agreement with Cameroon is the third of its kind to be negotiated, after agreements with Ghana and the Republic of Congo.

The Commission entered into negotiations with Cameroon in November 2007. Negotiations have proceeded since then and included four face–to-face sessions and sixteen technical sessions via video-conference. Throughout the negotiations, the Commission has been assisted by a number of Member States. The Commission has kept the Council updated on progress throughout the period, with regular reports to the Working Party on Forests and to EU Heads of Mission and representatives based in Cameroon. After each negotiation session the parties held public meetings to keep stakeholders informed of progress with the talks. In addition, Cameroon adopted a highly participatory approach involving civil society and the private sector in the development of the agreement.

The Agreement addresses all the elements contained in the Council negotiating directives. In particular, the Agreement establishes the framework, institutions and systems for the FLEGT licensing scheme. It outlines the supply chain controls, legal compliance framework and independent audit requirements for the system. These are set out in Annexes to the Agreement which provide a detailed description of the structures that will underpin the assurance of legality offered by the issuance of a FLEGT licence. Cameroon developed its definition of the applicable legislation by means of extensive stakeholder consultations. It includes laws and regulations granting rights to harvest, forest management, environmental, business and labour legislation, fiscal requirements, respect for tenure and use rights of nearby communities and other social obligations laid down in forest laws, as well as regulations governing commercial activity and export trade requirements.

The Agreement goes beyond the limited product coverage proposed in Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 2173/2005 (‘the FLEGT Regulation’) to cover trade in all timber products and, in doing so, commits Cameroon to building a system that will provide assurance to the European Union that all forest products from Cameroon are legally harvested and produced and contributing positively and sustainably to Cameroon’s growth.

The Agreement provides for controls on imports at the European Union’s borders, as established by the FLEGT Regulation and the associated Implementing Regulation (EC) No 1024/2008. The Agreement includes a description of the Cameroon FLEGT licence which adopts the format laid down in the Implementing Regulation.

The Agreement establishes the mechanism for dialogue and cooperation on FLEGT with the European Union, in the form of the Joint Implementation Council and a consultative body known as the Joint Monitoring Committee. It also establishes the principles of stakeholder participation, social safeguards and transparency for monitoring impacts and reporting.

The Agreement sets out a time frame and the procedures for entry into force of the Agreement and for implementing the licensing scheme. Since Cameroon will upgrade and redesign its regulatory and information management system, introduce more comprehensive supply chain controls and establish independent verification of legal compliance, it will take several years to develop and test the new systems and to build capacity on the part of the government, civil society and the private sector for the tasks envisaged. The FLEGT licence scheme is expected to be fully operational by the beginning of 2012. The licence scheme will be assessed against defined criteria before the EU begins accepting FLEGT licences. The steps and process for this are defined in the Agreement and its annexes.