The Japanese government will implement a policy to prevent the government purchase and use of wood materials harvested illegally. Japan’s ‘Green Purchasing Law’ will attempt to prevent illegally logged wood products from its public procurement and a system is currently being developed to confirm that the timber is from legally harvested forests.

Starting from 1 July 2006, any wood products purchased will have to hold certification issued by groups such as environmental non-government organizations, (ENGOs) or Japanese timber organisations, proving that the wood was harvested legally.

It is likely that third party forest certification, such as the internationally recognised Australian Forestry Standard (AFS), will be recognised as an effective and useful tool for this purpose.

The wood products, listed in a recent Japanese Economic Journal article, include plywood used for public works, pulp as a raw material for paper, desks and pencils. According to the Japanese forestry Agency, 1-2% of the current domestic supplies will be the target or this policy.

The decision is a result of an action plan out of the recent G8 Gleneagles Summit, which included measures to be taken to cope with the world-wide issue of illegal logging.

NAFI’s chief executive, Catherine Murphy said clarification as to how this new rule could impact on future Australian product sales to Japan is needed.

“We need clarification because as all wood in Australia is obtained from legally logged forests and plantations but not all timber suppliers are certified” she said.

“It is important the guidelines support the purchase of timber products from forests managed with all of the legal requirements of the country’s origin, in addition to wood products from certified forests and plantations.”

FIA comment – the above from the Australian Forest Industry Association is obviously written from their point of view but the increasing need for legal compliance in international wood markets is growing.