The Legality Definition (LD) sets out principles, criteria, indicators and verifiers for legal timber according to the laws and regulations of Viet Nam. The LD shall be updated as and when required during implementation of the Agreement in accordance with the provisions of Article 24 of the Agreement. The LD forms an integral part of the Viet Nam Timber Legality Assurance System (VNTLAS) described in Annex V.
This Annex has been developed by a multi-sector working group through a comprehensive consultation process with government agencies, industry associations, enterprises, civil society, households, individuals and local communities. The forms of consultation have included stakeholder workshops, on-line and written comments and contributions by organisations and individuals on drafts of the LD.
Vietnamese legal documents referred to in the Appendices 1A and 1B of this Annex include Laws and Ordinances of the National Assembly, Decrees of the Government, Decisions of the Prime Minister, Decisions of ministries, and Circulars of ministries which are publically disclosed.
STRUCTURE AND CONTENT OF LEGALITY DEFINITION MATRIX
The LD is developed for two target groups, namely Organisations and Households, as defined
in section 2.2.1 of Annex V, to reflect compliance requirements of various regulations that
apply to these two target groups and to design a clear, specific and feasible VNTLAS as
described in Annex V. The LD for Organisations is set out in Appendix 1A and the LD for Households is set out in Appendix 1B of this Annex II.
The LD is divided into 7 principles, as follows:
- Organisations
- Principle I: Harvesting of domestic timber complies with regulations on land use rights, forest use rights, management, environment and society.
- Principle II: Compliance with regulations on handling confiscated timber.
- Principle III: Compliance with regulations on importing timber.
- Principle IV: Compliance with regulations on timber transportation and trade.
- Principle V: Compliance with regulations on timber processing.
- Principle VI: Compliance with regulations on export.
- Principle VII: Compliance with regulations on tax and labour.
- Households
- Principle I: Harvesting of domestic timber complies with regulations on land use rights, forest use rights, management, environment and society.
- Principle II: Compliance with regulations on handling confiscated timber.
- Principle III: Compliance with regulations on importing timber.
- Principle IV: Compliance with regulations on timber transportation and trade.
- Principle V: Compliance with regulations on timber processing.
- Principle VI: Compliance with regulations on export.
- Principle VII: Compliance with taxation regulations.
Source: VNFOREST
The LD for Organisations and Households consist of seven principles; however, under some principles the number of criteria, indicators and verifiers varies. In general, some of the regulations that apply to Households are simpler than those for Organisations. The most significant differences are reflected in Principle I, IV and VII, as follows:
- Under Principle I: Harvesting of domestic timber complies with regulations on land use rights, forest use rights, management, environment and society, both the LD for Organisations and the LD for Households include 8 criteria; however, some of the criteria vary between the two categories. The LD for Organisations includes Criterion 1: Compliance with regulations on main harvesting of natural forest timber, but this Criterion is not applicable to Households. The LD for Households includes Criterion 7: Compliance with regulations on harvesting timber from plantations in home gardens, farms and dispersed trees, but this Criterion is not applicable for Organisations (described further below).
- Under Principle IV: Compliance with regulations on timber transportation and trade, the LD for Organisations includes 10 criteria and the LD for Households includes 7 criteria. The additional criteria under the LD for Organisations relate to compliance with regulations on business registration, and internal transportation of timber and timber products within a province and between provinces which is not applicable to Households.
- Under Principle VII, the LD for Organisations covers Compliance with regulations on tax and labour (3 criteria), while the LD for Households covers Compliance with regulations on tax (1 criterion). This reflects difference in the regulations on labour applied to Households as compared to Organisations.
In the LD and under VNTLAS, there is a distinction between static and dynamic verifiers as defined in Section 4.1 of Annex V. Static verifiers (denoted ‘S’ in the LD matrix) relate to the establishment and operations of Organisations and Households, including but not limited to verifiers such as business registration, forest land use rights, taxation and environmental and labour regulation. Dynamic verifiers (denoted ‘D’ in the LD matrix) relate to batches of timber in the supply chain, including but not limited to verifiers such as timber packing lists and sales invoices, included in the Timber Product Dossier at each stage of the supply chain.
Source: VPA/FLEGT
