Asia Pulp & Paper Group (APP) welcomes the announcement by President Joko Widodo of Indonesia, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and President Donald Tusk of the European Council that the European Union and Indonesia are ready to move towards the start of the first ever Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) licensing scheme.
The announcement is based on the joint assessment that Indonesia is fully ready to implement the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA), a form of bilateral trade agreement agreed through the EU Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) action plan. The VPA with Indonesia aims to guarantee that any wood products exported from Indonesia to the EU comes from legal sources. Under the VPA, Indonesia developed the SVLK system to verify that its export of timber-based products are legal, and the EU agreed to accept only licensed imports from Indonesia.
A related regulation, the European Union Timber Regulation (EUTR) aims to reduce illegal logging by ensuring that no illegal timber or timber products can be sold in the EU by placing responsibility for control through due diligence on to EU businesses. The VPA once fully implemented, will enable Indonesia’s SVLK system to begin issuing V- legal licenses, enabling EU businesses to automatically demonstrate compliance with the EUTR.
The start of the FLEGT scheme represents a landmark development in the global campaign against illegal logging, an illegal trade that was recently estimated to have cost Indonesia alone close to $9 billion between 2003 and 2014. Legal Indonesian exporters will be at a significant competitive advantage over other tropical timber producing countries due to automatic compliance with the EUTR. The start of the FLEGT scheme demonstrates how global trade can be focused to both support legality and deprive illegal logging of an export market.
Commenting on this landmark development, Aida Greenbury, Managing Director Sustainability and Stakeholder Engagement said:
“APP warmly welcomes the new partnership between Indonesia and the European Union to work together on trade and sustainability, a partnership that could redefine how countries collaborate on sustainability and forest protection. For the first time, timber consumers, suppliers, civil society and NGOs and governments across the world have come together to forge a trade deal that will conserve forests that are crucial to avoiding catastrophic climate change.
The start of the FLEGT scheme is a huge opportunity and a tribute to the work of industry, policymakers and NGOs in Indonesia and in Europe. APP will continue to support the EU and Indonesian government and its sustainable economic development and trade, and will look to drive sustainable forestry practices to the highest standards.”
APP became the first Indonesian mill group to achieve full SVLK certification status in November 2012.
About Asia Pulp & Paper
Asia Pulp & Paper Group (APP) is a trade name for a group of pulp and paper manufacturing companies in Indonesia and China. APP is responsible for delivering quality products to meet the growing global demand for tissue, packaging and paper. On any given day, our products find their way into the hands of consumers in various branded forms from all over the world.
Started in 1972 with Tjiwi Kimia producing caustic soda, now we run operations across Indonesia and China with an annual combined pulp, paper, packaging product and converting capacity of over 19 million tons per annum. Today, APP markets its products in more than 120 countries across six continents.
Over the years, we have expanded our operations significantly through the acquisition and expansion of several of our pulp and paper mills. It’s our commitment to customer satisfaction that enables us to grow our share in paper sales worldwide and broaden our presence through offices in many countries. We believe ‘tradition and modernity go hand in hand’ which means we value long term relationships as part of our Eastern traditions, while we also are eager to embrace the modern values of innovation and efficiency.
Maintaining the integrity of our supply chain is also crucial to APP’s operations as well as our commitment to our Sustainability Roadmap Vision 2020. Learn more about APP’s path to operational excellence by reading our Sustainability Reports and Forest Conservation Policy.