WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION  
ORGANISATION MONDIALE DU COMMERCE  
ORGANIZACIÓN MUNDIAL DEL COMERCIO  WT/CTE/W/120 
29 June 1999 
 (99-2536) 
Committee on Trade and Environment Original:   English/ 
 anglais/  inglés 
 
 
 
COMMUNICATION FROM THE SECRETARIAT OF THE INTERNATIONAL 
TROPICAL TIMBER ORGANIZATION (ITTO)  
 
Communication from the ITTO Secretariat
 
  
 The attached background note
1 has been received from Secr etariat of the International 
Tropical Timber Organization.  It is being circulated to members of the CTE in preparation for the 
Committee Meeting on Trade and Environmen t to be held on 29-30 June 1999. 
 
 
Comité du commerce et de l'environnement 
  
COMMUNICATION DU SECRÉTARIAT DE L'ORGANISATION 
INTERNATIONALE DES BOIS TROPICAUX (OIBT) 
 
Communication du Secrétariat de l'OIBT
 
  
 Le Secrétariat de l'Organisation internationale des bois tropicaux a fait parvenir au Secrétariat 
la note d'information
1 ci-après, qui est distribuée aux membres du Comité du commerce et de 
l'environnement en vue de la réunion que le  Comité tiendra les 29 et 30 juin 1999. 
 
 
Comité de Comercio y Medio Ambiente  
  
COMUNICACIÓN DE LA SECRETARÍA DE LA ORGANIZACIÓN  
INTERNACIONAL DE LAS MADERAS TROPICALES (OIMT) 
 
Comunicación de la secretaría de la OIMT
 
 
  La secretaría de la Organización Internaciona l de las Maderas Tropicales ha enviado la nota 
documental adjunta
2, que se distribuye a los miembros del CCM A como parte de los preparativos para 
la reunión que celebrará el Comité de Comercio y Medio Ambiente los días 29 y 30 de junio de 1999. 
 
 
                                                      
1 English only./En anglais seulement./En inglés solamente. 
 WT/CTE/W/120 
Page 2  
 
 
    
 
BACKGROUND NOTE ON 
THE INTERNATIONAL TROPICAL TIMBER ORGANIZATION (ITTO) 
  
 
by 
Amha bin Buang 
Assistant Director, Economic Information and Market Intelligence 
 
 
   
I. INTRODUCTION 
1. The International Tropical Timber Agreement is one of the several intergovernmental 
international commodity agreements (ICAs) ne gotiated by United Nations conferences under the 
auspices of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).  Unlike the conventional ICAs, which focus on price stabilizati on measures (commonly referred to as the ICAs 
with economic provisions) or those considered as administrative agreements, the ITTA is often 
categorised as a developmental agreement  which seeks to promote the international trade in tropical 
timber, the sustainable management of tropical fo rests, and the development of tropical forest 
industries through international cooperati on, policy work and project activities. 
2. The ITTA, 1983 was adopted in 1983 and entered into force in 1985.  In November 1986, the 
International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) began to function in the administering of the 
provisions and operation of the agreement following  the appointment of the Executive Director and 
the selection of Yokohama as the headquarters.  The ITTA, 1983 was succeeded by the ITTA, 1994 
which has entered into force on 1 January 1997.   
II. MEMBERSHIP 
3. As of 15 June 1999, the membership of the I TTA, 1994 and ITTO stands at fifty-three (53), 
comprising 29 producing members and 24 consumi ng members including the European Union (EU) 
as follows:  WT/CTE/W/120 
 Page 3 
 
 
Table I  
Producing Members Consuming Members  
Africa  
 Cameroon Australia  
 Central African Republic Canada 
 Côte d’Ivoire China 
 Democratic Republic of Congo Egypt 
 Gabon European Union 
 Ghana  Austria 
 Liberia  Belgium/ 
 Republic of Congo  Luxembourg 
 Togo  Denmark 
Asia & Pacific    Finland 
 Cambodia  France 
 Fiji  Germany 
 India  Greece 
 Indonesia  Italy 
 Malaysia  Netherlands 
 Myanmar  Spain 
 Papua New Guinea  Sweden 
 The Philippines  United Kingdom 
 Thailand Japan 
Latin America  Nepal 
 Bolivia New Zealand 
 Brazil Norway 
 Colombia Republic of Korea 
 Ecuador Switzerland 
 Guyana United States of America 
 Honduras  
 Panama  
 Peru  
 Suriname  
 Trinidad and Tobago  
 Venezuela  
 
 4. Although the ITTA, 1994 could still benefit from an expanded membership, all members that 
are considered “key players” save the Russian Fede ration, are already party to the Agreement.  In 
spite of it being an intergovernmental organizati on, ITTO adopts a policy of openness to ideas from 
members of the trade and non-governmental organi zations (NGOs).  Many of its members include 
advisers from the trade and on the environment in th eir delegations.  Even so, there is no information 
indicating any non-parties which are in compliance with the ITTA, 1994. 
III. TRADE MEASURES 
5. There are no provisions for trade measures in  the ITTA, 1983 and the ITTA, 1994.  Neither 
are there trade measures being proposed nor decisi ons being taken to introduce these measures within 
the ambit of the Agreement.   
6. However, much focus is being given to the achievement of the  ITTO Year 2000 Objective .  
Originating from a proposal for the ITTO Action Plan, 1990, the Objective emerged in the form of a commitment of all members made in Bali in 1990 to achieve exports of tropical timber products from 
sustainably managed sources by the year 2000.  Foll owing the adoption of the Objective, much work 
had been undertaken towards operationalizing the goal.   This included the formulation of a strategy 
adopted in 1991 by which members, through inte rnational collaboration and national policies and 
programmes, will progress towards achieving sustainabl e management of tropical forests and trade in 
tropical timber from sustainably managed resources by the year 2000.  The strategy has since been 
incorporated as one of the operative objectives of ITTA, 1994. 
7. The foregoing has spurred ITTO to embark on its pioneering mission of bringing tropical 
forests under sustainable management.  This involves, inter alia , the development of a series of 
guidelines covering the sustainable management of natural tropical forests (1990), the sustainable WT/CTE/W/120 
Page 4  
 
management of planted tropical forests (1991), th e conservation of biological diversity in tropical 
production forests (1992) and the protection of trop ical forests against fire (1997).  Work on the 
development of a definition of sustainable forest  management and a set of criteria for measuring 
sustainable forest management was also initiated at  the early stage of ITTO’s establishment (1991), 
well before the launching of the Helsinki and Montreal processes for non-tropical forests after 
UNCED 1992.  Since then, a revised  version of th e ITTO Criteria and Indicators has been approved 
in 1998 followed by the adoption in 1999 of the ITTO Manual for the Application of Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Management of Natural Tr opical Forests.  Independent ITTO missions were 
dispatched to Sarawak (1989) and Bolivia ( 1995) to assess forest management and offer 
recommendations for improvement while several proj ects have been approved for implementation in 
member countries with the view to enhancing capaci ty in managing tropical forests on a sustainable 
basis. 
8. As the costs of bringing tropical forests under sustainable management are substantial and 
increasing and in recognition of the need to deve lop and contribute towards mechanisms for the 
provision of new and additional fi nancial resources and expertise needed to enhance the capacity of 
producing members to attain its objectives, the I TTA, 1994 provides for the establishment of the Bali 
Partnership Fund for the sustainable management of  tropical timber producing forests.  The fund is 
exclusively reserved for producing members to ac hieve objective (d) of the ITTA, 1994 and is 
additional to the Special Account which remains in ex istence.  Following the entry into force of the 
ITTA, 1994, work on finalizing the operation of th e Bali Partnership Fund has been completed and 
members as well as the international donor comm unity are being asked to make pledges and 
contributions to the fund. 
9. With the year 2000 fast approaching, the attainment of the ITTO Year 2000 Objective will 
feature prominently in the coming meetings of th e International Tropical Timber Council (ITTC) and 
its subsidiary committees.  At its Twenty-sixth Session held recently, the ITTC decided to conduct a 
review at its Twenty-eighth Session in May 2000 of  the progress made by members towards achieving 
the ITTO Year 2000 Objective and by ITTO in enhancing the capacity of members to implement a 
strategy for the attainment of the Objective.  The focus will indeed be on progress, together with the 
factors contributing or hindering it.  As its name suggests, the ITTO Year 2000 Objective is not to be 
viewed as a guillotine or deadline for the applicati on of sanctions against tropical timber exports from 
unsustainably managed sources but as an indicative a nd guiding goal to facilitate the achievement of 
sustainable forest management. 
10. As there are no provisions for trade measures in  the ITTA, 1994, there is concern regarding 
pressures for urgent and definitive measures to be taken to save the world’s tropical forests in the 
form of threats of bans and boycotts as well as di scrimination against tropical timber and unilateral 
actions to restrict or prohibit the use of tropical  timber.  In view of these, the ITTA, 1994 has a 
specific objective of providing a forum for cons ultation to promote non-discriminatory timber 
practices.  In this connection, the agreement cont ains an important provision for non-discrimination in 
its Article 36 which states that nothing in the agreem ent authorizes the use of measures to restrict or 
ban international trade, and in particular, as con cerns imports of, and utilization of timber and timber 
products.  This provision is meant to prevent the use of the ITTA, 1994 as a basis for discrimination 
particularly against tropical forest and timber.  
11. Under Article 32 of the ITTA, 1994, members are generally obliged to use their best 
endeavours and cooperate to promot e the attainment of the objectives of the agreement and to avoid 
any action contrary thereto.  Members also undert ake to accept and carry out the decisions of the 
ITTC and shall refrain from im plementing measures which would ha ve the effect of limiting or 
running counter to them.  As provided for in Ar ticle 31 of the ITTA, 1994, any complaint that a 
member has failed to fulfil its obligations unde r the agreement and any dispute concerning the 
interpretation or application of the agreement shall be referred to the ITTC whose decisions shall be 
final and binding.  Article 33 of the ITTA, 1994 pr ovides the authority to the ITTC to relieve a  WT/CTE/W/120 
 Page 5 
 
 
member of an obligation under the agreement on acc ount of exceptional circumstances or emergency, 
while Article 34 of the agreement provides for differential and remedial measures and special measures for developing consuming members and fo r members in the category of least developed 
countries respectively. 
IV. TIMBER CERTIFICATION AND LABELLING  
12. Timber certification and labelling is closely related to the issue of sustainable forest 
management and has emerged with an initial focus on  tropical forest and timber.  While the objective 
of timber certification and labelling in distinguish ing products from sustainably managed sources has 
been generally accepted, there remain several concer ns regarding the proliferation of initiatives, the 
credibility factor and the possibility of it being used  as a non-tariff barrier and a means to discriminate 
against a particular product.  It is observed that of late, there has been a shif t from the threats of bans 
and boycotts against tropical timber to the call for the certification and labelling of the product. 
13. ITTO’s work on timber certification and labe lling began with the commissioning of a report 
on “ The Economic Linkages between Internationa l Trade in Tropical Timber and Sustainable 
Management of Tropical Forests ” in 1993 leading to the convening of the “ Working Party and Report 
on Certification and Labelling of All Timber and Timber Products”  in Cartagena, Colombia in 1994.  
This was followed by a detailed study on “ Market and Market Segments for Certified Timber”  in 
1995, a comprehensive “ Study on the Development in the Formulation and Implementation of 
Certification Schemes for All Interna tionally Traded Timber and Timber Products  “ in 1996 and the 
“Study on Timber Certification: Progress and Issues” in 1998. 
14. The issue of timber certification and labelling is still evolving and will continue to be 
ventilated at appropriate fora particularly in  the context of the UNCED follow-up under the 
Intergovernmental Forum on Forests (IFF).  For its part, ITTO has made significant contributions to 
the development of principles, criteria and indicators of sustainable management of tropical forests.  
Although ITTO has not assigned itself the role in the development and practice of timber certification 
per we as well as in the accreditation of timber certification bodies, it has, nevertheless, commissioned 
relevant studies on the subject and approved projects aimed, inter alia , at improving the marketing of 
tropical timber from sustainably managed sources and training of human resources towards its end.  Indeed, timber certification and labelling remain s very much in the on-going ITTO agenda. 
 
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