Malaysia's National Timber Certification Scheme Was Judged to Fall Short of The Standards

Malaysia's national timber certification scheme has been judged to fall short of the Netherlands' timber procurement standards. The decision by SMK, an independent panel, rejects the Malaysian Timber Certification Council's (MTCC) appeal against the decision last year by Dutch timber procurement body TPAC which judged that MTCS does not meet the Dutch procurement criteria for wood. The main reason for TPAC's rejection of MTCS is what it claims is the scheme's limited recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples and lack of adequate protection against the conversion of certified natural forest to other uses, included plantations. The appeals panel said MTCC had not provided substantive arguments in their case. "The result is that the MTCC Board's action is on all counts dismissed, " it said. MTCC said it regretted the decision, which it said undermined the efforts by developing tropical forest countries like Malaysia to implement timber certification. "As a voluntary timber certification scheme that has been developed through a Malaysian multi-stakeholder process, the MTCS is unfortunately held responsible by SMK for issues that are inherent to the Malaysian constitutional, legal and political system, " said MTCC chief executive Chew Lye Teng. "Secondly, the SMK unfortunately chose not to take into consideration the additional measures to address the TPAC concerns that have been agreed between MTCC and the Dutch state secretary Joop Atsma. " The Netherlands is the largest market for Malaysian timber in the EU and accounts for 49% of the MTCS's exports of certified timber products. "Contrary to the SMK ruling, the Danish, British, French and UK governments and the German municipality of Hamburg have recognised the MTCS as providing assurance of sustainable timber, " said the MTCC. Source: ttjonline.com