§ Ms WalleyTo ask the Minister of State, Department for International Development if he will make a statement on the recent meeting with the Indonesian Trade Minister; and if he will make a statement in respect of action to implement a memorandum of understanding with Indonesia on illegal logging. [118764]
§ Hilary BennI met with the Indonesia Minister of Forestry, Dr. Prakosa just over a year ago on 18 April 2002 when the bilateral "Memorandum of Understanding to Combat Illegal Logging and the Associated Trade in Illegal Timber and Wood Products" was signed between Indonesia and UK. Since then we have done a number of things.
First of all we are supporting a process to develop a working definition of legality in Indonesia. This is fundamental and it may sound straightforward. However, in Indonesia many laws govern different aspects of forests and forest industry and reaching agreement on an enforceable definition of legality is difficult. We are helping to bring a range of stakeholders together and broker an agreement that will allow us to move forward. We have started the process of piloting verification schemes that will be needed to confirm compliance with legal requirements. Allied to this we are supporting efforts to restructure forest industry and close down mills that rely on illegally sourced timber.
The UK timber trade is taking this seriously too. Just last week, on the day the Greenpeace report "Partners in Crime: a Greenpeace investigation of the links between the UK and Indonesia's timber barons" was published, UK timber traders met with Indonesian suppliers in London to discuss common supplier assessments and third party auditing.
Other countries are also beginning to play their part. China and Norway have signed MoUs with Indonesia that draw on that signed by Indonesia and UK last year. Japan and the EU are currently discussing agreements with Indonesia. Malaysia has taken action to stop the illegal import of logs and cants (roughly squared logs) from Indonesia.
However, under EU law, a ban on illegally logged timber, can only be imposed at EU level, not at UK level. We are therefore working actively within the EU. The European Commission published a Communication containing a proposed forest law enforcement, governance and trade (FLEGT) action plan on 21 May 2003. The plan includes a proposal for new EU import regulations to address imports of illegally logged timber in a way that is consistent with our obligations under the World Trade Organisation.
The Communication requests endorsement from Council and the European Parliament to:
enter into negotiations for FLEGT Partnership Agreements with wood producing countries;124Wpresent a Regulation setting up the voluntary licensing scheme, in conjunction with wide stakeholder consultation; andreview options for, and consider the impact of, further measures to support the Action Plan, including, in the absence of multilateral progress, the feasibility of legislation to control imports of illegally harvested timber, and report back to the Council on this work during 2004.Member states are also asked to identify relevant national legislation that could be applied to address the illegal logging issue, and to inform the Commission of their findings.The purpose of the Voluntary Partnership Agreements and associated Regulation would be to prevent timber without a valid licence (indicating legal harvesting) from participating countries entering the EU.