Timber from SABLs - Managing forests as a renewable asset for present and future generations

to the National Forest Board’s suspension of all Forest Clearance Authorities associated with SABLs. The PNGFA reports that clearing under SABLs has thus restarted. However, unless strong evidence of legal compliance can be secured, any logs sourced from SABLs should be avoided until the Government has formulated and implemented a comprehensive response to deal with the issues laid out in the Commissions of Inquiry reports.

Key document check 7.2

A key document check does not cover all documentation; rather, it focuses on the documents most important for the

authorisation and conduct of forestry operations, timber processing, and export that could be checked as part of a legality risk mitigation strategy. For markets that are now controlled by laws explicitly prohibiting trade in illegal timber, the laws may provide an indication of what documents should be checked. For example, as explained in section 2.2 the EU Timber Regulations set out the scope of national legislation that determines what is legally and illegally harvested timber (e.g. legislation covering harvesting rights, payment of fees, customs and export, etc.).

Table 9 provides a generic list of key documents. Other documents could be added to increase the comprehensiveness of the check, though a point would be reached where the check becomes too complex and beyond the capacity of the timber buyer.

The main holders of key documents associated with forestry and timber exports are:

 Timber businesses

 Provincial Forest Offices

 SGS PNG

 PNGFA Head Office

With regards to the documents held by the PNGFA Head Office, the Forest Act 1991 requires the PNGFA to maintain a Public Register containing:

 Summaries of decisions of the Board containing brief facts and the resolutions thereto (as long as they are considered appropriate for the public domain)

 Maps relating to forests

 Details of

o Registered Forest Industry Participants and Consultants

o Licenced Scalers

o Registered timber processing plants, including an extract of the relevant certificate of registration of licence;

o Timber Permit holders o Timber Authority holders o Timber Licence holders o Holders of Forest large scale roadline projects, including an extract containing a description of the timber including an extract containing their details and the unallocated areas o Forest Management

Agreements and field reports relating to the

signing of the Agreements with resource owners.

A key document check has limitations.

From a key document check, whether the regulated procedures were properly followed to issue authorisations or whether logging operations comply with regulations and guidelines, both of which we have identified as major concerns in PNG, cannot be fully ascertained. Also, without certification of chain of custody, there is a small risk that unauthorised timber could enter the supply chain.

Consequently, a claim that timber is fully legal cannot be made from a key document check. Rather, a key document check allows the timber buyer to claim that he/she has made an effort to check that the major authorisations, approvals, licenses, etc. have been secured by the timber businesses, that they have the necessary registrations to be involved in forestry, that they have paid all required royalties, duties and fees, etc. Given its limitations, a key document check should be considered an interim legality risk mitigation strategy for unverified PNG export timber.

Table 9: Key documents for legality risk mitigation

Key document Issued by Location

Right to participate in commercial activities

53 Business Registration with the

Investment Promotion Authority.

Investment

Promotion Authority Timber business Registration as a Forest Industry

Participant. PNGFA

List of Forest Industry Participants kept by PNGFA Head Office

Certificate Permitting Foreign Enterprise to carry out business activity

Investment

Promotion Authority Timber business Concession right

Forest Management Agreement

(FMA) Minister of Forests